The Romances of Avengers Tower
by Chocolatelover2001
Summary: In the future, the Avengers and the Agents of SHIELD joined forces, and raised their children together in the Tower. They wanted to give them a normal childhood but we know that things don't always work out as planned. This story highlights all of the couples that weren't paid enough attention to in THe Romance of Jadason. WILL BE SOME JADASON FLUFF CAUSE OTP. Read that one first!
1. New Looks

**Hello my loves! Here is a new story! This story is going to be a series of one-shots centering on the other couples from The Romance of Jadason that we didn't see so much of. If you haven't read that one you should probably go read it. The timings of these will be specified at the beginning, and will vary from early childhood to married life and all that good stuff. Some fluff, some recovery, some concern, ya know! SO enjoy this new story! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING BUT MY OCs**

Alana and Tanner: Age 11.

(TANNER POV)

I was walking around the mall with Naomi and Robert, and we were waiting for Alana to come back from wherever she went. She wouldn't tell us but she told us not to follow her and that it was a surprise. Whatever that means.

"Hey Mimi?" I asked.

She glared at me. "Don't call me that." she told me. I laughed.

"Okay Mimi, anyway, look at what they are selling over there." I said, grinning.

Her eyes widened and she looked at me. "Oh. My. God. They are selling the pineapple mango smoothie! C'mon! You two are slow!" she said, running over. Robert and I laughed and followed her.

She had already gotten her smoothie by the time we had gotten over there. She has been obsessed with those since as long as I can remember.

My parents were wary about sending us alone, so they sent us with Natalie and Eddie, who had decided to let us free. They're pretty cool.

"Mimi! Slow down! You'll get brain-freeze." I told her. She looked at me irritatedly.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT. If I wasn't otherwise occupied I would punch you." she said loudly. Suddenly a bunch of paparazzi appeared from basically nowhere and started writing stuff down.

"Ms. Stark! Can we get an official quote on that? Are there hard feelings between you and your brother?" they asked. I snorted at the ridiculousness and decided to set the record straight.

"No you cannot get an official quote on that. She's my sister. We bicker sometimes. We're normal humans. Get over it." I told them, walking away.

Some of them followed me. "Do you two bicker often? How are things going at home? Which of you is inheriting Stark Industries?" they asked.

Naomi got irritated and glared at them, taking one of their microphones and glaring at the camera.

"To your questions. Yes, we bicker often. We're TWINS. Home is fine! Why do you care? And we bot hhave an equal inheritance to Stark Industries! Don't you all have better things to do than stalk a bunch of 11 year olds at the mall?" she snapped.

They left and I grinned at both of them, who were standing next to each other extremely close. And I was about to say something when somebody tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned around to see Alana looking totally different. Her usually dark chocolate hair was purple with navy blue and pink streaks running through it, but they weren't straight streaks, they flowed with her hair, it was cool. And she had at least 6 piercings on one ear and 5 on the other. She also had a nose piercing, with just a tiny golden hoop through it.

"Elliot's going to kill you." I told her, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

"Hah. As if he could." she said, grinning. "So? Do you guys like it?" she asked.

I grinned. "It matches your personality." I said. She smiled and flipped her hair mockingly.

"Why thank you." she replied, imitating those streyotypical snobbish girls. I laughed and looked at her. She has the prettiest eyes ever.

They're an interesting shade of pale pale blue, with a hint of a greenish tint in them, so like an extremely light aqua color. They look amazing wiht her medium toned skin and her new hair. Where she got blue eyes from nobody really knows, because her parents, her grandparents, and her great grandparents all had varying shades of brown eyes.

"Whatcha thinking about?" she asked me, playing with one of her new earrings.

"Oh uh- nothing." I said, blushing furiously. She looked at me curiously.

"Are you blushing?" she asked.

"No!" I said in wild protest before toning it down. "No I'm not. I'm just uh- sick. Right, sick." I said.

She looked at me skeptically but didn't push me. "Okay." she said warily, before jumping on Eddie's back and scaring him senseless.

Naomi came up behind me and whispered in my ear. "Somebody's got a crush." she sang teasingly.

I glared at her. "I don't have a crush on Alana." I said indignantly.

She smirked. "Who ever said anything about Alana?" she asked mischievously. "You know, for a child genius, you're not very bright." she teased.

"Right, what about your giant crush on Robert? Hmm? You loooove him." I asked her, teasing back.

"I do not!" she responded, although she was blushing intensely.

"Well, the color of your face indicates otherwise." I told her smugly.

She glared at me. "Says mister 'I love freaking Alana Garner'." she replied fairly loudly, looking pointedly at Alana who was standing a bit away. Luckily she didn't hear her.

"Two can play that game." I told her.

"Oh yeah? You're on." she said.

And thus began what was later referenced as the 'Crush War' where the two of us proceeded to try and play matchmaker. It included pranks and battle strategies and everyone was thankful when Alana and Tanner finally got together because Alana worked up the courage to ask me out. Because she's Alana even if I had asked her out first, she would've said no only to ask me out later that day. Because she's Lana. And then of course Naomi and Robert got together and started their long nights talking science and blah. Pssh. Boring.


	2. Training and Kisses

**Hello my friends! Another chapter! I really want to write Jadason fluff but I'm refraining. For you guys. Because I love you. So anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)**

Dianna and Elliot: Age 18 and 19

Elliot POV

I had finally convinced Dianna to let me train her in self defense a month ago. I mean, she knows how to use a gun but she has absolutely no clue how to throw a punch. And I get worried.

So we were downstairs in the training room and suddenly Alana shows up before we start.

"Alana? What are you doing here?" I asked her. She grinned.

"Mom told me to keep an eye on you two. Muttered something about doing less training and more making out down here." She said smirking.

"Fine." Dianna said rolling her eyes. She looked at me.

"Okay. So I was going to show you this move. Just copy exactly what I do." I said, taking the hint.

I showed her and she copied, messing up on purpose. Alana stifled a laugh but I just grinned. Di is smart.

I walked over to her and fixed her positioning. "More like this." I said.

"Oh okay." She said, trying it again, and once more messing up on purpose.

"I think your arm is in the wrong position. Here, go like this." I said, guiding her arm on the proper formation.

She grinned and Alana started to catch on to what we were doing.

"Guys! Less touching more fighting." She interjected. Dianna looked at her innocently.

"He's guiding me through the steps my dear friend, is there something wrong with that?" She asked.

Alana pretended to gag and shook her head at us. We rolled our eyes.

Suddenly I had an idea. Something that would make my sister go away. She can't stand PDA. She literally pukes. So all we have to do is kiss and then she'll leave.

So I pulled Dianna in and she looked confused for a second before going along with it.

"Ugh ew." Alana muttered, looking away. "Mom!" She shouted, running up the stairs.

We grinned and separated.

Suddenly we heard someone else come down the stairs. "Didn't think I would be that easy did you?" My mom asked me, raising her eyebrows.

I groaned and Dianna glared at the wall. "Come on! We just want some alone time!" She protested.

"To do what? I swear those mats see less punches and more kisses." She retorted.

"But mom-" I complained.

"No. Get into your stances. And Dianna? Don't pretend you don't know how to do it because then I'll correct your stance, got it?" She said.

We groaned and looked at each other, then did as my mom said and got into our positions.

Afterwards I groaned in soreness. My mom doesn't go halfway. She goes all out. EVERY TIME.

My mom left upstairs and I grinned. "So. Where were we?" I asked cheekily.

She smiled and and brushed some hair out of her face. "I don't know. Why don't you show me?" She said innocently.

I rolled my eye and kissed her lightly. "Oh right, that's where we were." She whispered cheekily, kissing me back, harder this time.


	3. Heartache

**Hi Everyone! New chapter! This one is going to be some Daniel and Scarlet fluff! It's the scene from the photo where Daniel is kissing Scarlet's cheek from The Romance of Jadason. So you know, you don't have to have read that chapter to understand this, but this chapter is a sort of elaboration of that photo from Jason's box. Play the song Teardrops on My Guitar by Taylor Swift as you read this, I swear it'll give you the feels. This one isn't as fluffy as the other ones, more heartache stuff. You know the usual.**

Scarlet and Daniel: Age 14

(SCARLET POV)

It's my mom and dad's birthday today, and so we're all gathering around to celebrate. "Hey Scarlet! C'mon! They're cutting the cake!" Daniel said, grinning.

"Okay, okay. I'm coming." I muttered, walking up to him. He put his arm over my shoulder, but I didn't think anything of it, as much as I wanted to. I've had a crush on him for a while now, but he's a massive flirt, so it probably doesn't mean anything at all. I sighed ever so slightly at how slow we were going. I had gotten my powers as a baby and it was an accident. My parents wanted us to wait until we were older, but of course, things never really go our way.

Daniel looked at me. "What's up?" he asked.

"Nothing much. You're slow." I told him, grabbing his wrist and dragging him after me as I sped to the kitchen. He looked at me frazzled, his hair all messed up.

"Jeez, I could've walked faster." he said, still dazed. I smirked.

"But you wouldn't be able to keep up, now would you?" I replied. He rolled his eyes.

"Fine Scar. You win. Just don't do that again." he said exasperatedly.

"I can't make any promises." I told him, walking over next ot my mom and dad.

"Don't you guys feel old? You guys are 33!" I told them, grinning.

My mom glared at me. "Scarlet, don't you just feel dreadfully young? You can't drive or vote or-" I cut her off, glaring back.

"Okay okay I get it." I said. She smiled.

"Glad we're on the same page." She replied, looking back at my dad.

"Jase? Can't we just ditch this? I don't want cake! I'm 33 not 12. Honestly asking at this point is a nuisance." She muttered to my dad.

"Lighten up Red! If anything, do it for the kids. You know how much Bri likes the cake." He replied, smiling.

Right, my 5 year old cousin is obsessed with anything sugary. Honestly in my opinion she doesn't need more sugar.

Speaking of, here she comes. "Is that cake? Chocolate or vanilla? Or BOTH? Oh my god I wonder what it is! Can we cut it now?" She said excitedly, practically bouncing in excitement. I rolled my eyes a her.

"Brianna, relax. If you don't calm down you don't get any cake, understood? I dont want to get too hyper before bed, okay?" Aunt Ana said. Brianna nodded and went to sulk. I laughed and my little cousin glared at me.

"Jason! Cut the cake already!" Nina said, grinning. Nina is my aunt, but she's only two years older than me.

"C'mon guys! We want cake!" Riley said. I smiled and my parents cut the cake.

"Okay okay, now we want you guys to pose for the picture. Jade, Jason, I want you guys to kiss in the middle. Steven, I want you to kiss Sofia's cheek, Josh, I want you to wrap your arm around Becca, and Daniel, I want you to kiss Scarlet's cheek." Aunt Dianna said, getting out her device.

We got into position and I hope Daniel doesn't notice the blush on my cheeks.

I have a reputation to uphold, a merciless flirt. I do it to get him out of my head, but I know it doesn't work. As much as I wish it did. He's a huge flirt too, so I know that the simple gesture means nothing to him. Nothing at all.

After she snapped the picture I sighed lightly and went upstairs, not bothering to eat any cake.

I sat on the floor in my room and pulled my knees against my chest, looking outside of the massive glass windows that ran from the floor to the ceiling.

Daniel won't ever like me back. And honestly I don't know if I want to ruin what we have. We're so close, best friends even, and it kills me to think that we'll never be anything more.

I hardened my heart and decided at that moment to repel these feelings. Get rid of them, erase them from existence, because otherwise I'll just hurt myself. Badly.

I decided to go for a run, quickly going outside of the door faster than anyone could see me and racing around the city. I sped up and down buildings and into some of them, running circles around the Empire State Building. I heard my mom's voice in my head telling me to slow down but I didn't listen, going faster and faster, trying to rid myself of all thoughts of him.

There was never any chance with him, now there's just a negative chance, and I hate gaining even the smallest sliver of hope just for it to be destroyed. My mom doesn't believe in hope, that much I know, and my dad says that hope isn't even a real emotion, but it causes some others to surface. My brothers and I weren't meant to hear her say that, but we were eavesdropping and she was having a breakdown.

To be honest it was scary, seeing my mom who's usually so put together and happy, having a panic attack. She was screaming and crying and she looked completely terrified and vulnerable. And that's what made me believe her, that hope is a figment of imagination.

I'm done being head over heels for him. I'm going to do everything I can to move on.

When I got back I bumped into Daniel.

"Hey, I was looking for you." He said, his sea green eyes searching my jade ones. "We didn't know where you went."

"Oh I just went for a run." I told him, shrugging. He looked at me curiously.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I faked a smile and forced myself to look away, "Yeah, I'm great." I said, before turning and walking away.

"Scar?" He called after me. I didn't look back.


	4. Hair Dye

**Hello peeps! Here is the next chapter! This is some Maria Stark and Thomas Barton fluff because we saw basically nothing of them. In case you were wondering, Maria is Alana and Tanner's daughter and Thomas is Sarah and Johnny's son. Just if you were wondering. Another thing, if you haven't read The Romance of Jadason, you're going to be confused a lot of the time. Just so you know. Enjoy this chapter! :)**

Maria and Thomas: Age 15

(THOMAS POV)

Maria's being a bore. So I decided to have fun by myself. She was dying her hair a maroonish color but I honestly don't know why. I mean, her hair looks pretty red or not red. But she likes it red, says it goes with her complexion. Which it does, and it has a startling contrast to her blue eyes with flecks of gold in them.

Anyway, I decided to make snowballs in my hand and play with them because why not? When you can control weather, pretty much anything is possible. Well not anything, but I can sorta fly. Which you have to admit is pretty cool.

I walked around the room and started making little rain clouds above the sinks and made the temperature drop in some areas and decided to mess with the lights.

Maria gave me an irritated glance and went back to what she was doing. I stopped and came up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist.

"Go. Away." She said. I laughed.

"Okay okay. Hurry up." I told her. She glared lightly at me through the mirror. I sighed boredly and fiddling with some miniature tornadoes in my hand.

She gave me a look. "Tommy-" she started.

"Maria . . . I'm bored!" I complained.

"Thomas Barton! Stop it this instant!" She said.

"What happened to you? You used to be fun." I muttered.

Maria looked at me exasperatedly. "Really Thomas? Just be patient. You can leave if you want you know. I'm not keeping you here." She told me.

"Nah. I'd rather stay here. Are you almost done?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I just have to dry my hair." She said, grabbing the hair dryer.

"That I can do. And much more efficiently than a dumb blow dryer." I muttered the last part, sending a small breeze her way and quickly drying her hair. She turned around and looked at me.

"You know, you would die without your powers. You rely on them for everything. You don't even own a jacket or gloves, and you can't go a minute without using them." She told me.

I only half heard her. Her hair was a darker, more purplish shade of maroon than before, and her eyes were bright in contrast. Her skin looked like it was glowing.

"Hello? Thomas? Earth to Tommy!" She said.

I shook myself internally looking at her. "Sorry. what?" I replied. She laughed.

"You are insufferable." She told me. I grinned.

"Yeah I know." I told her. She grinned.

"Now we can do something fun. Like prank Scarlet and Daniel. Or maybe Steven and Sofia. Or both!" She said, smiling wickedly.

"That's the Maria I know." I replied, grinning back at her.


	5. Revelations

**Hello! It's me! (again). This is the next chapter! Naomi and Robert action! This is the day after the last chapter of The Romance of Jadason when the science duo tell the rest of them about Jade's inhuman status. This is a two-shot. The next chapter is going to be Jade and Jason stuff and you'll understand why.**

Naomi and Robert: Age 16 (almost 17) and 17.

(ROBERT POV)

I was speed walking, almost but not quite running, to the common room where everyone else was. The sight I was greeted with was one to behold.

I saw a very pissed off and wet Jade next to a sleepy and also wet Jason, glaring at everyone in the room. Naomi was sitting on top of a ceiling bar with an empty bucket in her hands and I rolled my eyes at her antics.

She grinned and swung down, landing next to me. I indicated towards the soaked couple and she shrugged. "They needed to wake up."

"Um okay. Anyway we need to tell them about what we figured out." I said, ignoring her.

"Oh okay. I forgot about that! Hey Jade, Jason!" She called. They turned and glared, walking towards us.

"What's up?" she asked me, purposely ignoring Naomi.

"Well, we were analyzing the telepathy serum and found a formula."

"And then the last element is kree."

"So we realized that you need an inhuman gene for that to work out."

"After that we figured out that your telekinesis was an effect of being exposed to terrigen gas."

"That happened in the storeroom closet."

"Also, since you have the capacity for two powers, we decided to analyze Jason's blood-"

"And we found that he also has the capability for another power yet being exposed to the terrigen didn't do anything. So-"

"We deducted that your second power has been sitting dormant for a while now, about 5 months."

"And we discovered that your power is the power to control fire." Naomi and I switched places back and forth.

"What?!" They asked in unison.

"This better not be another prank!" Jade said, looking deadly serious.

"I swear it's not." I replied. She narrowed her eyes at me and nodded.

"Fine. So I'm inhuman and Jason can firebend?' She asked us.

"Right. Basically. So Jason can control fire but I don't know why it's been sitting dormant all this time." Naomi said.

"JARVIS! Can you pull up any video footage from the past 5 months where Jason was around any sort of flame?" she said. Jason was glaring at a fixed point in the wall.

A video showed up on the holoscreen with Jason glaring at everyone in the room and there was a small candle on the other side of the room. The more he spoke, the angrier he got, the more the candle flickered and brightened. Everyone's back was to the candle, so nobody saw it.

Another video showed up when he was injured and had his crutches. He was having a small breakdown and next to them the fireplace was running, and they could see the fire expand and grow.

"It hasn't been sitting dormant. It's just that nobody noticed." I muttered.

"She noticed." Naomi accused, staring at Jade with her eyes narrowed.

"Of course I noticed. I basically spend all my time with him if you didn't notice, and I had basically come to the conclusion that he had another power but I didn't tell anyone because I didn't know how it was possible and we already had too much going on at the moment." she replied calmly, her gaze flickering to Jason then back to us.

Jason's jaw tensed and he was glaring intensely at the wall as though the wall was his worst enemy. "I didn't even know. What the heck is the universe's problem with us? Did we do something so terrible to deserve all this crap?" he said angrily.

Jade grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly, and he calmed down a little bit. I glanced at Naomi and she nodded.

We left the room together and finally she spoke up. 'Maybe now wasn't the best time to tell them?" she said quietly.

I shook my head. "No. Jade hates secrets and lies, we know this. She would've found out and then she would've blown up and then what would happen? They'd both be angry and who's going to calm them down? Their parents? No, the only ones capable of calming them down is each other. We did the only thing we could in this situation. No point in dwelling on what could've been." I said logically.

She looked at me. "I guess so." she replied mellowly. I looked at her in concern.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"I'm fine."

"Naomi, you're clearly not." I told her.

'Fine. I feel like we should have done something for them. They basically dealt with all of their problems alone. There are reasons why they're both so angry all of the time. I feel like we're terrible friends. We were scared so we didn't do anything to help, yet they had to actually deal with all of that. They didn't back down." she muttered reluctantly.

"Naomi, I feel like that all the time. But what could we have done? Could we have done anything? Really?" I asked.

"I don't know! I feel so guilty even though I know logically that we couldn't have helped." she exclaimed.

"I know. Trust me. It hurts knowing that even if you try to help, they wouldn't take it." I told her. She looked at me.

"I just want the old Jade back. The one who didn't know how to deal with kisses, who would prank us, who would bet us stupid things." she said quietly.

"And I want the old Jason back, the guy who was oblivious to everything, who was slightly insecure, who was so empathetic. But we have to accept who they are now." I replied equally as quietly.

She looked at me and sighed. "I guess so." she said. We shared weakened smiles before walking back into the common room to find everyone else gone.

"I wonder where Jade and Jason went." she muttered quietly walking out to go upstairs and was gone for a few minutes before bolting back towards me, her eyes widened.

"Jade and Jason- they're fighting." she said. My eyes widened. This isn't going to end well. Between the two of them and their powers we are all going to pay the consequences of this, and nobody's going to be able to fix this except for them.

"Are you positive?' I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Unfortunately. We have to warn the others don't we?" she said.

I winced. "Yeah, we really should."


	6. Making up

**WELCOME TO PART TWO! This chapter is my first time writing a couple fight, so please excuse me if it seems a little unrealistic. I'm so excited for this though. It takes place during the last chapter of The Romance of Jadason. Please review, I need some constructive criticism. Enjoy! :)**

Jade and Jason: Age 17

(JADE POV)

Jason is really mad, at the world, at our lives, and worstly, at me. Me of all people. He's upset that I didn't tell him. Great. Annoyance and anger was literally radiating off of him.

"Jase. You can't be mad at me for this. Maybe I should've told you, but at the same time I wasn't sure and I didn't want you to worry about anything else." I told him, slightly irritated myself. Naomi and Robert had left a few minutes ago.

"Why not? Why can't I be mad? I deserved to know. It is my power you know." He said, his glare moving from the wall to me. I almost winced. Almost.

"Listen! All I knew was that there was a connection between your emotions and the flames around you. I figured it could just be something like how you can blow things up by channelling emotions into them. I didn't know it was anything new!" I said, glaring back.

"You still should've told me. Not all of us are telepaths." He said. That stung a lot.

"You know what Jase? You're being unreasonable. One thing I don't tell you and you go off on me!" I said exasperatedly.

"This is important! We could've avoided this if you had just told me!" He replied, his glare intensifying. At this point I kind of wanted to scream and shout and punch something because the one person I have relied on my entire life is being an insufferable douche.

"How could we have avoided this? We would've known then what? WHAT COULD YOU HAVE DONE? I didn't really think anything of it and at that point you could hardly walk. I was worried about you." I yelled.

"Well maybe you should stop worrying, Jade." he shouted back. I'm done. He knows what him calling me that does. He just crossed the line. I can feel the flashbacks starting to pour in but I blocked them out. Then something just snapped in me. I glared at him coldly.

"Maybe I will." I responded, zero emotion in my voice, my face icy and cold. Now, now there was nothing in me except for anger.

Suddenly I noticed a glimpse of brown black hair whip around the corner. Of course Naomi heard us. Of course.

We were standing there glaring at each other for a good while before I turned away and left. I only ever tried to help him, but if he doesn't want my help, then that's too bad.

I walked out to see my mom giving me a look. "Jade, what are you doing?" she asked me. Of course Naomi told everyone.

"I did nothing. It's his fault." I said sharply.

"That might be so, but that's not what I'm talking about." she said.

"Then what are you talking about? Get on with it." I said coldly.

"Jade, you love him. You literally drove yourself crazy when he was kidnapped. You LOVE him. Don't be dense." she told me, replying calmly.

"That's nice mom, but this isn't a romance novel." I muttered, shouldering past her when she grabbed my arm. I tensed.

"Think about what you're doing Jade. Think about it." she told me softly before releasing my arm.

(JASON POV)

Why does this always happen? Why, when things are going great, does something always has to happen to ruin it? I'm so angry and I'm not even that angry at Red, yet I took it out on her. I called her Jade. I know exactly what that does to her and her change in attitude showed that exactly.

I'm still mad at her but I know I crossed the line there. I basically sprinted over the hypothetical line holding a flashing sign that reads 'please hate me for the rest of your life' for a mile. I sat down and put my face in my hands. How did this happen?

One minute we're hugging each other and sleeping upright and the next we're screaming at each other? I have to fix this.

I got up and bumped into Nat who just gave me a look. "Give it a few hours. Don't go now." she said. How did she know?

"Why?"

"Jade is liable to break your ribs if you go now."

"I doubt she could anymore." I muttered.

"Well I don't. So don't go now alright?"

"But Nat, I need to fix this. I said some things I really shouldn't have." I said remorsefully, the impact of what I did hitting me like a truck.

"Yeah I know. But the minute you walk in the room you'll have a headache so bad you won't be able to function properly for a year. So I don't recommend it." she replied.

"What do I do?" I asked her. She looked at me.

"You need to swallow your pride and anger and whatever adolescent impulses you have and apologize. Mind you, she can read your mind, so it has to be really sincere. You think about what you've done until all you feel is regret. That's how you do it." she told me.

"What is wrong with me?" I asked rhetorically.

She rolled her eyes. "I honestly have no idea." she replied honestly.

"Gee thanks Nat."

"It's true. There is clearly something wrong with you and emotional state at the money, and the only person who will understand is Jade, and you pushed her away." she told me exasperatedly.

I stayed silent at that. She sighe and walked away and I walked into the kitchen to eat some breakfast. It's still around 9. Everyone was in the room and when the saw me they started buzzing from nervousness.

Then I saw why. Jade had her back turned to me and her muscles were all tensed. I winced slightly. She obviously knew I was here. She turned around and pretended I wasn't there at all.

"Red?" I said quietly. She stiffened and then continued ignoring me so I just decided that right now isn't going to work.

We sat down at opposite ends of the table and ate our food in silence, and she caught me looking at her and I caught her glances as well.

"Red. I need to talk to you." I said once everyone else had cleared out.

"Then talk." she replied coldly. I flinched internally. I've never been on the receiving end of her harshness before. Ever.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that, and you know I didn't mean it. I just got so angry and I took it out on you and I shouldn't have." I said quietly. Her cold facade wavered slightly.

"Yeah, you really shouldn't have." She muttered. Then she sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Maybe i should've but I was just doing what I thought was reasonable at the time." she said uncomfortably. I almost wanted to smile, but not quite.

Then we were silent, just looking at each other, reading each other, judging each other's intentions.

Then she smiled warily. "You know I love you right?" she said quietly. I smiled a little back.

"You know I love you too right?" I replied.

"Doofus." she murmured quietly. "Fine. I forgive you. Everyone needs to let out their anger and you just let it out in the wrong place. Believe me, I get it. And you're kind of hard to stay mad at. But I swear if you ever do that again, I will-"

"Kill me, I know. I don't doubt it either. But it won't happen again." I swore. She smiled and kissed me.

"It better not." she said. I grinned.

"It won't." I said again, kissing her back.

(NATASHA POV)

"Does anyone know where Jade and Jason are?" Steve asked.

"Last time we saw them they were in the kitchen." I replied.

"They're probably blowing up at each other, aren't they? Maybe someone should go check on them." Natalie suggested. I got up.

"I'll go." I said. I walked out of the room and into the kitchen. There I was greeted with a sight no mother really wants to see.

Those two were making out very passionately. Both of their shirts were discarded somewhere in the room, Jason's hands on her bare waist and Jade's arms around his neck. I left and told JARVIS to lockdown the kitchen. As much as I don't like them doing that, in the kitchen no less, I'd rather not have anyone walk into that.

I walked back in the common room, my face neutral.

"So? Were they okay?" Agent Smith asked me.

"Well, I wouldn't say okay, but they weren't fighting anymore." I replied.

"How were they not okay? Did they hurt each other or something?" Natalie asked.

"No. They are unhurt." I said.

"Well then?" Agent X asked.

"Well their shirts were both off if that gives you a hint. I didn't think they had gone that far yet." I said.

"Oh lord." Steve muttered. I laughed.

"C'mon Steve, they were late." I told him. He buried his face in his hands.

"They did it last night, first time." Alana commented offhandedly, walking in the room, leaning against the doorframe.

"Oh my god." Steve groaned. "Stop talking."


	7. School

**Hello my readers! I really need reviews because the only reason I'm writing this is to get better, and I don't feel like I'm improving. So please review and tell me how I'm doing! Love y'all! Enjoy this chapter! :)**

Steven and Sofia: Age 16

(SOFIA POV)

I'm dying of boredom here. How am I supposed to pay attention to this dumb lecture about all these things I already know? Enlighten me please.  
Steven is giving me the most strained look ever and I gave the teacher an eye roll as he continued spending too much time on stuff we already know.

He mouthed something to me. "I need to get out of here." I smirked at nodded,

"Ms. Stark, Mr. Smith, would you like to share what's so interesting with the class?" he asked. I flinched. My last name isn't Stark. I have a last name, and as much as I love Alana and Tanner like parents, and they legally are, but I remember my biological parents too.

"My last name isn't Stark. It's Martin." I said to him. He looked at me reproachfully.

"Not legally." He replied. Steven put his hand on my arm.

"Sof, calm down. We'll talk to him after class." he murmured quietly in my ear. I nodded.

"What was that Mr. Smith?" the teacher asked yet again.

"I was just telling her that this class is stupid, that we know all this stuff already, and that ignorant fools like you aren't worth her anger." he said.

The teacher looked ready to give us both detention. "Are you ready to take the test today then?" he asked.

"Yes." we replied in unison.

"Come after school today." he told us.

"Actually we can't. We have other stuff to do." Steven said.

"School takes priority." THe teacher said stubbornly.

"Fine. We'll just call my mom down here and see what she has to say about that."

"Hey, Scar, can you run mom over here?" he said, looking over to Scarlet who was in the class with us.

Scarlet ran out of the room quickly and I smirked at the look on the teacher's face. She came back with Ms. Rogers.

"Yes they have other responsibilities to take care of." she said, looking at the teacher.

"Like what?"

"Saving the world. Agent Rogers, at your service." She said, pulling out her badge telekinetically.

HIs jaw dropped. "Oh- uh- sorry. But these aren't your kids are they?" he asked.

"I'm not too young to have had triplets, no. And Sofia's last name is Martin, not Stark, legally. Also, when they say that they already know the material, they do. Age is not a factor of intelligence, as demonstrated clearly here. For example, there are two 16 year olds here that have at least 3 times the knowledge you do. And yes, that's a fact. I can read your minds." she said.

"Oooooh ROASTED." Josh said.

"Josh, manners." Ms. Rogers reprimanded. I grinned. I love her.

Scarlet sped her back to the tower and she came back and sat in her seat.

I looked at Steven. "I love your mom." I told him.

"What about me?" he asked, feigning offense.

"I don't know, let me think about it." I replied, staying silent for a few minutes. "Yeah, I love you." I told him. He smirked and kissed my cheek.

"Love you too." he said quietly, smiling.

The rest of the class was still buzzing with excitement, and the teacher was glaring at us. So I did the mature thing. I stuck my tongue out at him.


	8. Rubber Bands

**Hello friends! I haven't had any good inspiration for Johnny and Sarah until now. So that's why I've been writing other couples. But anyway, here you go.**

Sarah and Johnny: Age 19

(JOHNNY POV)

Sarah and I were inside and she was making odd contraptions out of office supplies. She was messing with some paper clips and rubber bands, hardly even looking at me. So focused. I picked up a rubber band and got ready to shoot it. I aimed it at Sarah and flicked her arm with it.

She looked up at me irritated. "Johnny, don't shoot me with rubber bands." she chastised. I rolled my eyes.

"You're no fun." I muttered.

"You flicked me!" she said.

"Sarah . . . I'm bored."

"Go entertain yourself." she told me. "I'll pay attention to you later."

"Sarah! There's nothing to do." I complained.

"Figure something out."

"Sarah!"

"Make a target and shoot at that." she said, playing with the magnetism of the paper clips, not looking up.

"Fine." I picked up a post-it and tacked them at various points on the wall. I grabbed some paper clips and made them into dart like shapes, using rubber bands to launch them at the post-its. I shot each of them one by one, then decided to cut up the post-its and make tinier targets.

I posted up at least 100 of them one by one and the shot them quickly, seeing how fast I could go and how many I could hit in a certain amount of time. I was in the zone. Eventually I ditched the rubber bands and launched them with my hands.

I didn't even hear Sarah calling my name. I didn't notice her until she flickered all the lights. To be honest I had forgotten she was even there.

"Johnny!" she said, stepping in front of me.

"Oh- Sarah." I said, caught off guard. She grinned.

"I guess I'll go back to doing what I was doing." she said, smirking.

"C'mon Sarah." I said. She smiled.

"Just kidding." she replied, coming up to me and kissing my cheek.

I grinned. "So now you want to pay attention to me?" I asked her.

She rolled her eyes. "I said that I would, didn't I? I wasn't lying to you." she told me.

"Ms. Campbell, Mr. Barton, you are requested in the common room." Came JARVIS's voice from above us. We looked at each other and walked over there.

When we got there and Jade and Jason were standing there nervously. We haven't seen them in a while, they've been working with SHIELD for the last 9 months.

Sarah gave Jade a giant hug and then looked at her in shock. Jade nodded grimly and Sarah just shook her head.

"So Jade, Jason? Not that I'm complaining, but is there a reason you guys came back?" Tanner asked. Alana slapped him on the arm.

"Well yeah. You didn't-" Jade started.

"Tanner! Don't be rude." Naomi chastised.

"Um, I don't know what you're talking about." he replied, looking confused as I was.

"Me neither." I added.

"Same." said Elliot, Jack, and Robert.  
"Guys! Oh my god." Alana said.

"How do you not see it?" Sarah asked us.

"Thanks Sarah." Jade said dryly. I'm still clueless.

Sarah blushed. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that-" she started.

"I still don't know what you're talking about." Tanner said.

"I'm pregnant for crying out loud!" Jade cried, clearly irritated at all of us guys. "Your friends are all idiots." she muttered to Jason, who was next to her and fidgeting under Aunt Tasha's glare.

"How long?" Natasha asked.

"4 months. I didn't know until a month in and then I kind of didn't want to tell you guys." she said, giving her mom a pointed look.

"When did you guys have time for that? I thought you guys were on missions!" Naomi said, shaking her head.

The two of them blushed and Jade glared simultaneously. "Shut up." she said shortly.

"Anyway, are they triplets?" Nat asked.

"Yeah. they are. We're going to stay here from now on, because apparently I'm not approved for flight anymore." she said.

"That's great! I can't wait to meet baby Scarlet and Josh and Steven!" Nat said excitedly, putting Riley down so the almost two year old could hobble over to her Uncle Jason and her Aunt Jade.

"Uncwe Jathon! Auntie Jay!" she said excitedly, tackling Jade's legs. Jade picked her up, albeit struggling and smiled at her.

"You can walk now? I'm so proud of you Riley! You know you're going to have cousins soon. See, they're in my tummy." she said, and the toddler's eyes widened as she looked down at Jade's stomach.

"Look Nina!" she said excitedly, Nina crawled over, a few months younger than RIley. She wanted Jade to pick her up too and Jade just looked at Jason for help.

He picked up his little sister and held her nest to Jade. Who knew the kids loved Jade so much? They stared in awe at her stomach, trying to fathom how there could be three kids in there. I smiled looking at that and they put the kids down.

"Jason, could I talk to you for a moment? In private?" Uncle Steve asked. Jason paled considerably. Jade whispered something in his ear and he swallowed, following his girlfriend's dad.

Sarah looked at me as her baby cousin came and sat on her lap. "I love kids." she said, smiling down at Nina.

"Yeah, too much responsibility." I muttered.

"That's why we have these two. All the fun, but no responsibility." she said cheerfully. I smiled.

"For two years. Then we have Thomas. That's strange." I said. She looked at me oddly.

"It really is."


	9. Mom and Dad

**Hi! I know that I said this would highlight the other couples but I simply must write this chapter. I apologize. But I love Jade and Jason so much I can't even handle it. So anyway, here it is. :)**

Jade and Jason: Age 18

(JADE POV)

Jason and I have been working for SHIELD as high level agents for 6 months now and haven't been at home since then. We've been on a few life threatening missions but mostly they're easy stuff. You know, get in, grab criminal, get out.

We just got back from a mission last night. We've been staying on a quinjet this whole time, with occasional stops at the Hub. Right now I'm lying in my bunk staring at the ceiling thinking. We're going to the Hub today.

Suddenly my stomach churned and I had the sudden urge to vomit. I bolted over to the toilet and let it out. I groaned and Jase came up behind me.

"Are you okay?" he asked me. I was about to reply when more came out. I groaned again and washed out my mouth and face.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good." I said. He looked at me skeptically.

"You don't look good." he said.

"Gee thanks." I replied dryly.

"You know what I meant. Hm, you don't have a fever, you got enough sleep last night, and you shouldn't have an infection." he said.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm fine Jase. I feel fine. I probably just ate something that didn't sit well with me." I told him.

"Okay. Tell me if you feel sick." he said.

I laughed. "Jase, I told you, I'm fine." I wanted to tell him not to worry, but after our fight last year we don't say that anymore.

"Are you guys okay in there? We heard puking!" Ria called in. She is the doctor on board and is one of our new friends.

"Yeah, we're good." Jase called, giving me one last look of concern.

"Okay, get into your suits, we're almost at the Hub.' she said.

Jason changed into a suit and I put on my black blazer and slacks. I brushed my hair and put on a small bit of makeup before we walked out of the room.

"Hey Jade, bring along your swimsuit and some tampons if you need, we're going swimming." Ria said quietly.

I nodded and grabbed my swimsuit before realizing something. It's been almost a month and a half since I've last had my monthly call from mother nature.

I shook it off. I know that it's supposed to be around now, but I don't really think that now's a good time to open that can of worms. We walked off of the plane and went to Eddie's office. Uncle Phil resigned, as he's pretty old now, and Eddie had been voted in as the new director.

"Hey Eddie!" I greeted. Jason and I hugged him while Ria and Marlin gave us strange looks, probably wondering why we're hugging our boss.

"Do you guys know each other personally?" Marlin asked. I laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, he's Jason's brother-in-law and we kind of grew up with him." I explained. They greeted each other and we sat down.

"How's Riley doing?" Jason asked. He loves his niece. Honestly I find it adorable.

"She's great! She said her first word the other day. It was 'Daddy'." he said, smiling proudly.

"Awww, tell her Auntie Jade is proud of her." I said, imagining little Riley talking. Suddenly Nat walked in the room.

"Jason! Jade!" she said excitedly. We exchanged hugs.

"Um, do you know her too?" Ria asked. I nodded.

"She's my older sister and his wife." Jase said. She nodded, looking a little bewildered. I smiled at her. We debreifed and then we walked out. I pulled Ria to the side.

"Hey Ria, do you think you can get a pregnancy test for me? My friend needs one." I said in a hushed tone. Yes, I lied.

"Sure thing." she said, grabbing one out of her briefcase. I looked at her warily. "For emergencies." she explained. I swear that girl has everything under the sun in case of emergency.

I speed walked into the bathroom and almost dropped it when it came out positive. I groaned and suddenly fears started plaguing me. What if I mess something up? What if I'm not a good mom? I took a deep breath and left the bathroom, putting on a calm facade.

I fell into step next to Jase who took one look at me and pulled me off to the side. "What's wrong?" he asked me.

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me."

"It's nothing."

"It's something."

"Jase!"

"Red."

"Fine."

"So?"

"I- uh- I'm pregnant." I whispered quietly. His eyes widened.

"What?" he asked. "Oh my god. No wonder you were throwing up this morning. Your parents are going to kill me." he said.

I rolled my eyes. "They won't kill you. Calm down." I said. He took a deep breath and looked at me incredulously.

"How are you so calm?" he asked me. I grimaced.

"I'm not. I'm freaking out. But I have nine whole moths to freak out. You, on the other hand, get the next five minutes before I decide that you have absolutely zero reason to be freaking out." I told him.

"Okay. Okay. You're pregnant." he muttered. I looked at him.

"It'll be fine. We'll be okay." I said.

"I know. I know." he said, then he looked at me.

"Do you want to tell anyone yet?" he asked.

"No. Let's wait until we have to. I kind of don't want them to know and be all over protective." I said. He nodded.

"I'm going to be a dad." he whispered. I smiled and kissed him.

"Yep. And I'm going to be a mom." I said back. He grinned and we walked back out into the crowd next to Ria and Marlin.


	10. Always

**Hi! I can't wait to write this chapter! This is going to be sibling reunion, not couple fluff. Juliana and Jade after Jade comes home after being kidnapped. So angsty, I teared up while writing this. Enjoy! :)**

Juliana and Jade: Age 12 and 14

(JULIANA POV)

I knocked on my sister's door warily. I need to talk to her. I need to see her. Because it's late at night and all that I see is her lying dead in a bloody pool, a nightmare that's haunted me for the past month now. So I need to see her, to convince myself that she's actually here and okay.

Jason opened the door and let me in before looking at me and walking out. "Hey Ana." she said quietly. It kills me to see her like this. But at least she's here and okay.

She's skinnier than I've ever seen her, her skin pulled taut over her lean muscles. Her dark circles were bad, and she looked weak. And my sister isn't weak. She can get through anything, she's invincible. Or at least that's what I told myself while she was gone. That she'd be okay, because she's Jade, and she is always okay.

The shadows in her eyes looked haunted, and I haven't seen her smile, not once, since she got home. The usually rosy tinge to her cheeks is gone, replaced by ghostly pale skin that accentuates her freckles. And she looks tired, so so tired. The brightness in her eyes has disappeared, instead a dull color.

She's confident and snarky and happy, and she always knows exactly what to say. She's always been my rock, always. She isn't frail or starved. She isn't terrified or alone or tired or- she's supposed to be invincible.

I missed her so much, and I can't bear this pain. I can't bear this feeling when I look at her. She used to have a slight upturn at the corner of her mouth, a playful gleam in her eyes, but it's not there anymore. It's all gone.

She's my big sister. She can't- they broke her. They changed her. She's not supposed to be like this. But now, seeing her like this, she's not. She's not invincible, she's not _my_ Jade. And that's when the dam broke and I cried, sobbing and just letting it out.

And she comforted me, she wrapped her arms around me and I buried my face in her shoulder, letting the tears fall out.

"It's all going to be all right. I'm right here Ana. I'm not going anywhere. You're okay. I got you." she murmured quietly.

She rubbed my back soothingly and when I felt the frailness of her shoulder it made me cry even more. She always has this scent of home. This feeling of comfort that she and my mom share. That feeling of being protected and loved and safe. And it's still there. Even after everything's changed, even after they broke her, she's still Jade.

She's okay, and she's here, and she's alive. I cried harder, letting out everything I've been holding in. I remember even when I was little, when I was younger and I would trip, she could give me a hug and make it all go away. I clutched her shirt in my fist and hated the scars that covered her skin, the reminders. I hate it, all of it.

She held me tighter, still murmuring reassurances into my ear. "I'm right here. I'll always be right here Ana. Always." she said quietly. A promise. A promise never to do that again. A promise that she can't keep and it's killing me.

It's killing me inside and I can't help her and I can't keep myself together. I miss her. I miss her so much, even though she's hugging me tightly right now. Yet she doesn't let go, she doesn't leave me alone.

"I'll never leave you alone Ana. Never again." she said softly. More promises that she can't keep, no matter how hard I know she'll try. She can't ever ensure that she'll always be here. She can't always be there to hug away all of my problems. She can't.

She can't keep away the nightmares, of her dead and gone and- I gasped for air, trying to slow down my crying but I can't.

It's like a flood that has a never ending reserve of water pouring out, it just won't stop. I miss her, I miss her strength, I miss her smile, I miss the way she makes everything okay.

Yet she still keeps comforting me, and the feeling that comes with her, that's immediately associated in my brain with her, didn't leave. Because it's still her, no matter what happens it's still her.

She's right here, and she's holding me and she's okay, and she's not leaving me. She's still her, always her. The thoughts are like a mantra in my head, telling me that she's okay, she's right here in front of me, she's not dead.

"Don't leave me." I said quietly, hating the way my voice sounds weak.

"I won't. I'll always be here. Always and forever." she murmured, stroking my hair lightly. I looked at her.

"Always?" I asked.

"Always." She replied surely, holding me tight.


	11. Death Threats

**Hello everyone! Here is the new chapter! This is going to be Jack and Juliana fluff, along with a little bit of overprotective Jade and Johnny. :)**

Juliana and Jack: Age 11

(JOHNNY POV)

Oh no. Oh _hell_ no. My little brother did not just _kiss_ Juliana. Not on my watch. Firstly, Jade and I decided to spy on them from the vents and what we saw was terrifying us. Those two _like_ each other. Our parents are best friends, and those two have always been best friends, and now maybe something more.

We're 13 at the moment and Jade is dating Jason and I maybe sorta kinda almost definitely like Sarah, but I haven't said anything yet. Because let's be honest, I'm nervous. But enough about me, those two kissed for the first time, and I'm a little upset.

I mean, it's kind of embarrassing when your little brother has had his first kiss before you. Okay, a lot embarrassing. Jade just nudged my shoulder.

"It's cute. But if he ever hurts her he won't make it out alive. Got it?" she said, her smirk quickly turning into a glare.

"Please, you couldn't get through him and me." I muttered, still peering out.

"Oh really? You want to bet? Because I'm undefeated among us." she said, coking an eyebrow. I grinned.

"You're on. But before we do that, I just want to warn you. Please don't be offended when I beat you, I swear it's nothing personal."

"As if Barton. You're going down. I'll arrange the funeral." she told me. I laughed and pretended to wipe away a tear.

"You think- You thought- I'm going down? Man Rogers, you're going a little loco." I said. She grabbed my wrist and twisted, her super strength kicking in.

"Whatcha going to do without your bow and arrow, cupid?" she taunted. I glared and yanked my wrist away, seeing how it is.

"So you want to do this sparring match in here? You're on." I muttered and aimed a punch at her gut. She grabbed my fist and twisted it over my back while I kicked her stomach.

She glared and flipped me on to the metal vent. "Is that all you got princess?" I jeered. She threw me into the vent entrance where I fell through, looking at our bright red siblings.

"Good going Katniss." she muttered, helping me up. I brushed myself off.

"Oh this is my fault Spangles?" I asked, glaring at her.

"Please, of course it is." she replied, giving me the look.

"You threw me into the vent." I accused. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but you taunted me, inciting it. God Merida. I thought you were smarter than this." she said.

"Oh I'm Merida? I'm not the one with the long, red, curly hair." I responded. She rolled her eyes.

"And I'm not the one who relies on my bow and arrow for survival." she sniped. Sudden;y Juliana spoke up.

"Oh my god! Shut up!" she shouted above our bickering. Our heads snapped to her and she sighed. "You guys are worse than Uncle Tony and Dad. Really, grow up." she said,

"Um. So. You guys saw that?" Jack asked awkwardly. I laughed.

"Yeah. We did." I replied. "What do you think we were fighting about?" I asked.

"But I meant it. Jack, if you ever, ever, ever, hurt Ana, EVER, I will personally find you and kill you in the slowest, most painful way possible. Understood?" she threatened, glaring intensely.

"We've been over this. Oh and Juliana, if you ever hurt him, I won't kill you, because I'm nice." I said.

"Or because you're afraid she'll beat you." Jade said nonchalantly, inspecting her nails. I rolled my eyes.

"As if. She's 11." I said.

"All the more reason for you to hesitate, claiming to be nice." she said, looking at me smugly.

"Please. As if." I muttered.

"C'mon Katniss, admit it. You're a coward." she said. I glared at her.

"Shut up."

"You really should."

"That makes no sense."

"Your face makes no sense."

"You aren't using logic."

"My logic is unique."

"Logic can't be unique."

"Mine is."

"Girls are so confusing."

"Guys are irritating."

"Please! At least we use logic!"

"We've been over this, my logic is unique and better than yours."

"LOGIC CAN'T BE UNIQUE."

"IT IS."

"IS NOT."

"IS TO."

"MY GOD YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF KIDS!" Jack shouted above us. We looked at them and they looked frustrated.

"Go fight somewhere else." Juliana said, shooing us away.

(JULIANA POV)

I sighed and looked at Jack who just shook his head. "She won't really kill me will she?" he asked me.

"No." I said, he sighed in relief. Then as an afterthought I added in: "I don't think so anyway." I murmured. He blanched.

"I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Calm down. Jade's not capable of killing someone." I said, laughing.

He looked at me. "Don't joke about stuff like that Ana."

"Aw, you'll live." I said. He grinned.


	12. Perfect

**Hello my friends! I am going to write another chapter and hopefully you guys like it! I posted a lot yesterday! I know these are short, but a lot of them have an extremely short plat line that I can't do much with. So anyway, without further ado, the birth of Riley!**

Eddie and Natalie: Age 27

(EDDIE POV)

"How are you doing?" I asked Nat, who looked like she would do anything to get the baby out of her. She was supposed to give birth a week ago, but little Riley didn't want to come out.

"I want your child out of me." she grunted.

"It's your child too." I said, smiling. She glared at me and I stopped smiling.

"Don't argue with-" she took a sharp breath.

"Nat?" I asked, panicking slightly.

"Eddie. My water broke." I looked at her in shock. "Eddie!" she said. I snapped out of it and helped her up, taking her downstairs.

"Her water broke." I said urgently to one of the nurses, who took her from me and into the delivery room. I stood there in shock for a little bit before shaking myself and following the nurse.

"AGHH!" she yelled in agony, things starting to spin around the room.

"Nat, please calm down. You'll mess them up." I said, squeezing her hand.

"Turn on the inhibitor then." she gritted out.

One of the nurses did that and the objects moved back to their normal places. "It'll be over soon." I said.

"Edward Coulson. Shut up." She said. I winced and let her cut off the circulation in my hand as another contraction came.

"Almost there. A few more pushes." The doctor said after a few more hours of this.

"That's what you said last time." Nat gritted out.

"C'mon Nat. Just a little more." I said encouragingly.

After a little while we could sigh in relief. Riley Laurel Coulson was here. Nat and I knew her name was going to be Riley, but her middle name was Agent X and Aunt Skye's sister who died when her parents put her through terrigenesis.

Nat was holding Riley and looking at her with such adoration. It was honestly adorable. Riley has my eyes, a grayish green color, and her dark brown ringlets.

Nat looked at me. "So do you want to hold her or not?" She asked. Oh. She had asked me something.

"Sorry. I kind of zoned out." I said, nervously moving to pick up our daughter in my arms. I don't want to mess up.

I picked her up and all my fears melted away, as cheesy as it sounds. Her tiny fingers curled in the air and she was looking at me knowingly.

"She's beautiful." I whispered quietly, in awe.

"She really is." Nat said, watching us as her eyes started to droop shut, she struggled to keep them open.

"Go to sleep Nat. You must be exhausted. I'll take care of her and if anything all of our family is outside and they know what to do. Don't worry." I said. She sighed and nodded, knocking out in a few minutes.

I smiled and my mom walked up next to me. "Aww Eddie she's gorgeous." She said quietly. I smiled.

"Isn't she?" I said, still slightly in awe that she is my _daughter._ It just never really sunk in until now.

And it's the strangest thing. You feel so much love for this child you don't even know yet. This urge to protect them from anything and everything. Right then I swore to myself never to let anything hurt Riley. Ever.

Agent X came up next to me. "What's her middle name?" She asked me.

"Laurel." I said softly. She looked at me in surprise.

"Natalie- she told you?" She asked. I nodded.

"Yeah. She wanted to name her after your sister." I said quietly.

"May I hold her?" She asked. I nodded and gave Riley over to her grandmother, who was also pregnant.

All of her grandparents took turns holding her and then Jason and Jade walked in.

They looked at her, Jason's face lit up in excitement and joy, and Jade's Face impassive, with only a slight upturn to the corner of her mouth.

"Would you like to hold her?" I asked. Jason nodded and carefully took his niece into his arms. He smiled down at Riley, who had curled her tiny fist around his finger.

Jade smiled but didn't move from where she stood a few feet away. "Jade? Would you like to hold her?" I asked. She but her lip nervously and shook her head.

"Are you sure? Don't be nervous." Nat said. I didn't notice she was awake.

"I don't want to." She said shortly, walking out.

I looked at Jason who sighed and handed back Riley, going outside to follow her.

(JADE POV)

I shouldn't have come. I'll just be a bad influence. Nobody needs a messed up person like me tainting her innocence.

I left because I don't want to hurt her. I don't want her to ever become like me. Never. So I'll stay away. And being a parent in two years? Forget it. I'm not going to put my own kids at risk. Not happening. Nada. Never.

Jason came up behind me. "What's wrong?" He asked me.

I turned around and sighed. "I don't want to hurt her or influence her in any way. Nobody needs a messed up person like me I their lives. Especially not an innocent baby." I said quietly.

"You aren't messed up. Don't ever say that, ever." He said, almost angrily.

"It's the truth Jase. I know it, you know it, everybody else knows it." I told him, my head lowered slightly. Right now I just want to leave this place. Alone. So I don't hurt anybody else. I don't tell him this anymore, but I still blame myself that he got kidnapped.

"It wasn't your fault. Red, you couldn't do anything about it. Don't feel guilty. Please." He said. Sometimes I wonder which of us is the mind reader here.

"It really is my fault. They wouldn't have tortured you if it wasn't for me." I said.

He gave me the look that says that for once I'm not going to win this argument.

"Don't. Don't go down that road. You won't hurt Riley. I promise nothing bad will happen, just try please." He said.

I nodded mutely and nervously, playing with my sleeves.

(EDDIE POV)

Jade looked scared. I'm guessing it's fear of hurting her but we trust Jade. I handed Riley over to her and she inhaled sharply when she was holding the baby alone.

Slowly though, she started smiling, more and more until she was beaming. Riley smiled up at her and made little gurgling noises and Jade nuzzled Riley's nose with hers.

Nat was silently crying tears of joy. "That's adorable." She whispered.

I nodded, smiling widely myself. Jade was playing lightly with Riley and cooing to her lightly. I looked over to Jason who was smiling happily.

Jade handed Riley back to me and she was still smiling. They walked out as more people walked in. Everyone took turns holding her and eventually everyone left and I looked at Nat who was asleep with Riley also asleep in her arms. I smiled.

This is just perfect. I have my fiancé, my best friend, and my daughter. It's just perfect.


	13. Match Maker Mimi

**Hi guys! Sorry this took so long! I was working on the first chapter to the sequel to The Romance of Jadason. It's posted now if you'd like to check it out! This chapter is going to be a scene from the prank war. Basically Naomi and Tanner going at it prank-wise, attempting to play match maker. So enjoy! Please R and R! :)**

Tanner and Naomi: Age 12

(Naomi POV)

Tanner and I have been pranking each other nonstop since that trip to the mall, and I think I finally have the idea to make him and Alana finally get together. But I'm going to need Elliot's help. And Dianna's help. I might as well get those two together as well while I'm at it. I mean, they are practically in love but Elliot won't say anything and Dianna is just too shy to.

I strode over to the lab and grabbed Dianna's arm, pulling her out of the lab. Robert gave me a look that screamed 'what is she up to this time?' but I ignored it. She glared at me.

"I was in the middle of something Naomi. Now tell me what you needed." she said crossly.

"Don't be so uptight. I was going to prank Alana and Tanner, and Jade and Jason are probably going to get pranked too." I mused.

"Okay, okay. Who else is helping?" she asked me tiredly, clearly deciding that it was better to just go with it. And she's right.

"Elliot, Sarah, and Johnny." I said. She nodded and left grabbing Elliot and dragging him over, and I dragged over Sarah and Johnny.

"What?!" they asked irritatedly.

"Oh stop being such party poopers. I was going to prank Alana, Tanner, Jade, and Jason, but if you don't want to help then-"

"No no no. We'll help. Anything to prank Lana." Elliot said mischievously. I rolled my eyes.

"You're such a great older brother." I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice. He smirked and I rolled my eyes again.

"Anyway! Here's the plan. I'm going to get Tanner and Alana down into the common room where you all will be waiting to . . ."

(TANNER POV)

Alana and I were walking downstairs into the common room where suddenly we got sprayed with lots and lots of water. Then we looked up to see Naomi waving with an minnocent smile. I glared at her and she smirked.

Then suddenly there was a large poof and tons of white flour dropped on us. "God Naomi! Was that necessary?" I exclaimed, highly irritated. It's an old prank, but it does the job.

"Yup." she said, when suddenly Jade and Jason walked in. They were about to get doused when Jade yanked Jason out of the way and the water narrowly missed them.

Then out of nowhere more water got dumped on top of them. They looked up to see Elliot waving. Then next to him a bunch of flour fell down on top of them and Dianna was suddenly there too.

Then came the grand finale. A giant dousing of honey on top of us.

"What was this meant to achieve?" Jason muttered irritatedly.

"Oh you'll see. You guys might want to go shower now." she said with an evil smirk. We groaned and went to do just that.

When I was done, I didn't bother drying my hair. I walked out into the hallway where I bumped into Alana. Her purple hair was also still slightly wet. Suddenly out of nowhere romantic music started playing.

I groaned internally. God I hate my sister sometimes. This is so awkward. Then Alana smirked.

"You're cute when you're uncomfortable." She told me. I rolled my eyes.

"Gee thanks Lana." I muttered. Then all of a sudden she leaned in and kissed me on the lips.

I just stood there in shock like an idiot and she smirked. "Yeah. You're cute when you're uncomfortable." She said, before turning and walking away. I blushed bright red and then Naomi turned around and clapped slowly.

When I turned and glared at her she pretended to wipe a tear for her eye and mock choked up. "That was beautiful. I'd call that operation a success." She choked out.

"Oh shut up." I said.

"Tanner and Alana sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-"

"I get it! God Mimi. Sometimes I hate you, you know that?" I told her.

She grinned, "Love you too little bro."

"I was born first!" I exclaimed. She smirked.

"Whatever you say, little bro." she replied. I groaned and shook my head at her. Why are we so alike?


	14. Home Safe

**Hello everyone! New chapter! This chapter is going to revolve around Jason and Natalie, so again, a sibling chapter. This is what happened when Jason found out that Jade was kidnapped. Short and sweet. Enjoy, R and R! :)**

Natalie and Jason: Age 24 and 14

(JASON POV)

I was just sitting in the kitchen when suddenly I got a spike of fear from Jade, just this spark of emotion that wasn't there before. I grabbed my phone and called her. No answer. So I called Sarah.

She picked up and her voice sounded absolutely terrified nd panicked. "Jason! Tell our parents to get down here now! Jade has been kidnapped!" My face paled.

"What do you mean? What happened?" I half yelled into the phone.

"She saw something highly suspicious, went to go check it out, and told us to follow her if she isn't out in 3 minutes, we go to follow her, and she's gone." she said, her voice cracking.

"Okay okay. Stay calm, we'll be there soon." I said, although I was seething on the inside. Not at her, but just at everyone and everything in general.

I quickly went to the common room where I bumped into Nat who was simultaneously walking out.

"Jason? What's wrong?" she asked. I decided to skip the sarcasm.

"Red was kidnapped." I said, and as fast as I said, her parents were up on their feet, rushing out. Everyone else was just as quick.

Nat looked at me. "You need to calm down." she said. I tried to get my powers under control, but it wasn't working. I can't.

"I can't" I said. She grabbed my shoulder.

"Yes, Jason, you can. They'll find her. You need to calm down before you hurt somebody." she said calmly. I took a deep breath and she hugged me.

"She'll be fine. They'll find her. It'll be okay Jason." she said. I could feel Red's sudden feeling of pain and I could feel the anger and rage emanating off of me.

"Jason?" she asked, pulling me out to arm's length, a slight look of pain in her eyes. I tried my best to get my powers under control.

"They're hurting her." I said, my voice breaking slightly. She hugged me again, tighter this time. "Nat, they're hurting her. She's in pain." I said hollowly.

"She'll be okay Jason. They'll find her." she reassured. I have the feeling that they won't though. Not for a long time.

I could feel her pain and fear like a throbbing ache in the back of my skull. A feeling that won't go away. Nat winced lightly and I pulled away, looking in horror as pain flashed in her eyes. I turned away and ran out of the room. I'm not going to hurt anybody because I can't control my powers.

I locked myself in my room and stayed there. I'm not going outside. Not until I have control. And I don't know how long that'll take me. I could feel her fear and her absolute horror. I could feel it, and I wanted so badly to just make it go away. I just want her to be here, home.

(LATER)

It's been a few hours here by myself, and I'm not leaving, not while I'm still liable to hurt my friends and family.

I heard a knock at the door. "Go away." I said.

"Jason, open the door." It was Nat. Of course it was Nat, she won't leave me alone.

"No." I said stubbornly. I want to open the door, but I don't want to hurt her.

"Jason. Why not?" she asked.

"I don't want to hurt you." I said.

"You won't-"

"Please Nat. We both know how much of a lie that is." I muttered, just loud enough so she could hear me.

"Jason, just let me in." she said.

"No." I refused.

"God you're stubborn."

"Still no."

"Jason!"

"NO."

"Fine then! When you're ready to talk you know where to find me." she said, and I could hear her footsteps receding down the hallway.

I sighed. I'm not going to be ready. Not until Red is home safe. I put my face in my hands and closed my eyes, trying to block her fear out of my head.


	15. Neat Freak

**Hello! I'm sorry the updates are taking so long, but I've just been busy. This was inspired by one of my best friends and also one of my avid readers! She doesn't have an account otherwise I would probably give a shoutout. ;) So anyway, here is you long overdue Dianna and Elliot fluff! Happy holidays! :)**

Dianna and Elliot: Age 19 and 20

(DIANNA POV)

I've been looking around the tower for Elliot and I've already looked in the kitchen, common room, living room, dining room, and training room. I decided to check his room. I walked in and my jaw dropped at what I saw.

There were clothes strewn about everywhere, including underwear, which made me want to puke. His bed wasn't made and he had various weapons lying unsheathed around his room. What if Riley, Nina, Scarlet, Steven, or Josh came in here? And what about after Daniel is born? My god. He's 20, not 5. Although sometimes I wonder.

"ELLIOT GARNER GET YOUR SORRY BUTT UP HERE!" I shouted. I'm pretty sure everyone in the tower heard me and Jade who had been passing by peeked her head in to check on me.

She was holding newborn Scarlet and Steven and Josh was probably somewhere with Jason. She looked at me sympathetically. "Maybe you should sit down." she suggested. I nodded and sat, knowing she was right. I'm 8 months pregnant and not enjoying it. I'm ready for this kid to come out already,

"Di? Did you call me?" Elliot asked, walking in. Forgetting my pain and dizziness for a moment, I stood up and slapped him. He grabbed my hand and looked at me confused.

"Look at this room! Clean it all up this instant!" I yelled. His eyes widened and he picked the stuff up. Jade left the room.

He started stuffing stuff in his drawers. "No no no. Fold them neatly and put them there. take everything out if you must. I'm not helping you this time, mostly because I'm entirely incapable of it."

He groaned. "Do I have to?" he asked. I gave him a look.

"Yes! What happens if Riley or Nina walks in here? You can't just have knives anywhere? What about when Daniel is born? Hmm? Will you still have knives lying around in here?" I asked him. My god this is a major source of stress right now.

He just nodded and did his work. I sat down on a chair in the only clean spot in the entire room. I looked down at my stomach.

"Your father is a child! A literal child! You better be good, because I don't think I can handle two misbehaving kids." I muttered.

After a little while he had finished and looked at me. I smirked and nodded. "Good job Elliot. Now let's see how long this will stay clean for." I said.

He let out a sigh of relief and collapsed on the newly made bed. I rolled my eyes at him because he just messed up the bed again. So immature.

He stretched his head back and looked at me upside down. He grinned and came over, kissing me lightly.

I smiled at him. "See, cleaning isn't that hard, is it?" I pointed out. He rolled his eyes.

"Easy for you to say. You can't stand anything messy." he muttered.

"Wrong. I can barely stand you." I told him.

"Aww thanks Di. You can barely stand me. How sweet." he said sarcastically. I pecked him on the cheek.

"You didn't know? I'm a hopeless romantic." I told him cheekily. He kissed me again.

"You called me messy."

"You are."

"Di! I cleaned my room!" he protested.

"Yes, after me having to yell at you. You're 20. Act like it. You have to be a good example for Daniel!" I chastised him. He pouted.

"But Daniel's not here yet." he told me.

"Like I didn't notice. Have you not seen this giant thing that used to be my stomach? My god I'm ready for your child to be out of me!" I replied.

"It's your child too." he pointed out.

"Are you the one with a human being inside you? No. So you don't get to decide who's child it is." I informed him.

He smiled and kissed me again. "Okay okay, fine." he said. I kissed him back.

"Love you too." I said, smiling.


	16. Girly Things

**Hello everybody! More Dianna and Elliot fluff! Mostly her annoying him though. Along with Alana! The two girls ganging up on poor Elliot! I almost feel bad for him. So here ya'll go! New chapter! :)**

Dianna, Alana, and Elliot: Age 15, 15, and 16

(ELLIOT POV)

Sometimes I hate my little sister. I can't hate Dianna, or I would hate her too. I got my lisence a week ago and even though we all know how to drive, we can't do it unless we're on a mission or else we'll get arrested. Which sucks for them, but I can go out whenever I want.

Alana and Dianna came up to me with wide grins on their faces. "Elliot?" Alana asked politely. Politely? Who is she and what has she done with my sister?

"Would you be a darling and take us to the mall?" Dianna asked, looking at me with a smile on her face. I groaned and shook my head.

"Ask Nat." I told them. They shook their heads.

"She and Eddie have to stay here or else our parents will kill them." Lana said.

"Okay, why do you have to go to the mall?" I asked. I'm not taking them. No way.

"Because we need to get clothes." Dianna said, looking at me as though I was crazy.

"Right. Obviously." I muttered. "I'm not taking you." I said. First they tried guilt tripping me.

"But how on earth could you say no to your own sister?" Alana asked, looking scandalized. I rolled my eyes.

"Please." I said.

"Elliot? Please? For me? You don't even have to take her." Dianna said.

"Traitor." Alana hissed.

"Oh hush." she hissed back. I rolled my eyes.

"Elliot Garner, you will drive us there." Alana said firmly, glaring at me. Her glares are honestly terrifying. Not that I'll admit it to her. It's something about the color.

"No." I'm not taking them, and that's final.

(LATER)

Remember how I said I'm not taking them? Well somehow I ended up with them in my car blasting out music and singing along horrendously. Horrendously? I'm spending too much time with Di. Finally we got there and I let them out of the car.

"Go. Enjoy yourselves. I'll be here when you're done." I muttered.

"Nope."

"What?"

"You're coming inside. We need a 'chaperone' or else Eddie will kill us." Alana explained. I groaned.

"Then let Eddie kill you. I'm not going into the mall with you two. Not ever." I told them. And again, against my will, I ended up walking with them inside the mall, pulling my beanie low over my head so nobody will know it's me.

"Aww Elliot are you embarrassed by us?" Dianna teased me.

"Yes." I said. She put a hand to her heart as though she was highly offended by that statement.

"How could you? I thought you said you loved me!" She dramatized. I rolled my eyes and ignored her.

"I'm just here to make sure you don't kill yourselves or do anything stupid. Nothing more." I muttered. Alana grinned and grabbed my hand, dragging me into some store. I didn't bother looking up to see which store, but when I did, I regretted it immediately. We were in one of those girly clothing stores that no guy would ever want to be caught dead in.

I groaned as they dragged me from store to store and I have no idea how they persuaded me into doing this. Absolutely no idea whatsoever.

"Elliot, come on, lighten up. Alana is gone now. So you can just pretend we're on a date and not that you were forced to come here." Dianna said as we entered the food court. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm tired. How long have we been here?" I asked. She crossed her arms and looked at me.

"Elliot Garner what is your problem?" she asked me. I sighed.

"Being here." I replied. She slapped my arm.

"Stop being such a rude pessimist." She told me. I rolled my eyes.

"You forced me to drive you guys to the mall and then forced me to come inside with you, then forced me to go inside of your girlish stores!" I told her. She tilted her head.

"What would you rather be doing?" she asked.

"Sitting at home, in my room, preferably listening to music." I said. She shook her head.

"Boring!" she exclaimed. "You need to have more fun. I'm going to show you how to have fun." she said.

"Oh god no." was all I had the chance to say before she disappeared. To where I have no clue. I saw a note on the table. _now you have to find me._

I groaned and got up. I guess I have to do this now. I followed the direction she went in until I saw a flash of her orange hair disappearing into a store. The build-a-bear store. Oh my god, she's inventing new methods of torture.

I walked in and she was making one. I tried to ut ahead to get to her but then a very pushy mom stopped me. "Young man, who do you think you are? You can't cut in line like that! Just because you're older doesn't mean you can be a bully!"

"Sorry ma'am, I was just trying to get to-"

"Cut in line I know! We have been waiting in line patiently for a long time! You cannot just cut in li-"

"I was just trying to get to my girlfriend! She's already up there! WIth the orange hair! Don't just assume things because I'm a teenage guy." I said exasperatedly, walking past her. By the time I got there though, she was already walking out. I groaned and shot a glare to the woman in line.

Then she walked into the next store, Sephora. Oh my god she can't do this to me! I saw her looking at some lipstick thing, which is strange because she despises makeup. A she definitely wouldn't get a dark purple color. She took that and some other things over to the cash register. I followed her but immediately a large group of girls got in front of me in line. I groaned and one of them noticed me. Oh great. These girls.

These are the insufferable flirts from school. The ones that are constantly flirting with me. Oh my god. I tried getting away as quickly as possible but they had cornered me and I saw Dianna smirk at me as she exited the store. I groaned and managed to escape.

I quickly followed her to the next store, a store called claire's. Claire's? As far as I know that store is for little girls. I'm almost a hundred percent sure this one is just to bother me. She quickly walked in, grabbed some earrings, bought them, and walked out, while I was trying to figure out how to get through the maze of pink and purple and makeup and jewelry and all things that make me want to puke.

I followed her out and she went through various different stores, very very very girly stores, until eventually she sat back at a food court table. I sat next to her and we were both completely out of breath.

"You know, sometimes I really don't like you." I told her, still panting slightly. She smiled breathlessly and kissed me on the cheek.

"That was fun though, wasn't it?" she asked. I shook my head.

"No. That was tiring." I said. She laughed.

"You're such an old man." she teased me. I stuck my tongue out at her. "Now you're a toddler, make up your mind Elliot!" she said.

I shook my head and kissed her. "Just don't run away again." I said. She laughed.

"I don't plan on it." she said, kissing me back. Suddenly my sister came in the picture.

"Ewww gross. You guys are almost worse than Jade and Jason. And that's saying something. Dianna, did you get what I needed?" Alana asked.

Dianna pulled away and grabbed the sephora bag, pulling out the dark lipstick. That makes a lot more sense now. Dianna went back to kissing me and then of course my immature little sister had t obutt in again,

"Oh my god! PDA! PDA! PDA!" she said, covering her eyes dramatically. I gave her a look.

"Sometimes I really hate you." I told her.

"I love you too big bro." she said. I rolled my eyes at her and we went back to the car.

"Okay. You two owe me one. Correction, you two owe me one thousand!" I told them as we approached the tower. We got out of the car and walked inside only to see my mom and dad staring at us three with disapproval.

"Elliot. I told you not to abuse your license." my mom chastised.

"But mom they-"

"No buts Elliot. No driving for the rest of the week." she said.

"Mom! They for-"

"Elliot Garner don't argue with me young man!" my mom said. I shut up because my mom is terrifying.

"Mom, we forced him to do it. He didn't want to." Alana said, looking at me, as if to say that she doesn't owe me anymore. And I'm okay with that.

Dianna was standing next to me, almost hiding behind me. I could've laughed if my mom wasn't currently deciding my fate.

"Okay fine Elliot. Just this once. Alana, I'm disappointed in you. Dianna, I expected better." she said, shaking her head. They walked back inside.

"Aww Lana you do care." I teased her, putting my arm around her shoulder. She squirmed and moved my arm as though it was hazardous material.

"No. I do not. I was just paying my debt." she muttered, looking at me warily. I hugged her and she yelped.

"Elliot! Ewwww! Gross! Dianna! Get him off of me! Ewwwwwwwww! MOM!" she protested. Eventually I put her down and she glared at me.

"Great, now I have to go scrub off the Elliot germs. I'll have to take at least 20 showers now. Thanks a lot." she muttered. I laughed and was about to hug her again when she bolted away.

"Remind me never to help you again!" she said, still running. I grinned. Today wasn't so bad.


	17. Homecoming

**Hello everyone! New chapter! This one is going to be very interesting. This is when the future children get back to the future after the last chapter of The Romance of Jadason. Also, last chapter was based off of the song "Here" by Alessia Cara. If you guys got that beanie reference let me know in the reviews. Enjoy! :)**

Daniel and Scarlet: Age 17

(DANIEL POV)

We stumbled back only to find Aunt Naomi and Uncle Tanner working on the machine. Aunt Naomi's face lit up as she saw us and she crushed Marisa in a giant hug. Uncle Tanner then noticed us and hugged Maria too. Both cousins were squirming.

"Hey mom. I missed you too." Marisa said, looking at us for help. I smirked.

"Dad! You're cutting off my circulation! Everywhere!" Maria exclaimed. Uncle Tanner moved away and suddenly everyone came pouring down the stairs.

Aunt Jade immediately came up and tackled the triplets in one giant group hug. They just hugged back and Uncle Jason joined in.

My mom and dad came up to me and hugged me tightly, and then my mom pulled away. "Young man, you have some nerve disappearing like that out of nowhere! And taking Brianna with you! My god. Elliot, deal with your child!" she said exasperatedly, looking at my dad, who just shrugged.

"So how was I in the past?' he asked me. I grinned.

"Pretty much the same. Except you looked a lot cooler." I told him. He punched my shoulder lightly and I laughed. In a lot of ways my dad is one of my best friends. Which might seem weird but it's not.

"Boys." my mom muttered. "You know, when I was pregnant with you, I had hoped that you'd be easier to manage than this other child I have to take care of. How wrong I was, I still have trouble fathoming." she told me. I grinned.

"Love you too mom." I looked over and saw Aunt Juliana furiously checking over Brianna. She's probably the most overprotective parent I've ever seen.

I then looked over to see Steven and Sofia making out. Okay, okay, gross. Did not need to see that. Rebecca and Josh were laughing at something and Aunt Jade was giving them a tired look, but she was still smiling.

I was so occupied watching everyone else I didn't realize Scarlet come up behind me. She jumped on my back and I yelped in surprise. "Scarlet!"

"Hey." she said, smirking. I looked at her over my shoulder.

"Why exactly are you on my back?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"Because I feel like it? Why? Do you have a problem with this?" she asked me. I smirked.

"Nope. Not at all." I replied. Aunt Jade smirked at us and winked at Scarlet, which caused us both to start blushing furiously.

"Awwwwwww. Did you two finally kiss?" Aunt Alana asked us. We groaned.

"They did!" My mom said, grinning widely.

"Mom!"

"I told you so." Aunt Jade said.

"Mom!"

"So. Tell us all about it. What happened?" Riley said, giving us pointed looks.

"What? No. I'm not going to tell you all about it." Scarlet said.

"C'mon Scar!" Steven protested.

I groaned and she smirked, and then suddenly we were outside the room and she was standing next to me. "Super speed saves my life once again." She said, grinning.

"Thank god. I swear they were going to start interrogating us." I said. She leaned in and kissed me. And then I blushed. I don't do blushing.

At least not normally. When I'm with Scarlet I get all flustered. Girls don't make me flustered. She confuses all of my emotions.

"You're cute when you blush." She teased. I laughed and suddenly kissed her passionately.

When I pulled away she was blushing hard. "I could say the same to you." I teased back. She stuck her tongue out at me and suddenly we heard muffled laughing. Scarlet sped over there and grabbed Steven's arm, causing him to materialize.

"C'mon Sof, let's go show everybody." He said, grinning wickedly. I glared at him and he laughed. Honestly he's like a completely different person when he's with Sofia.

"Oh no you don't." Scarlet said, trying to get the camera out of his hand. She sped up her hand and grabbed it from him in the blink of an eye.

Then Steven knocked it out of her hand with a small force field. The two siblings kept going back and forth until they were rolling on the ground. Suddenly Josh appeared and sprayed them with water.

They screamed in unison and then Scarlet smirked. "Well, I win. The camera is ruined now." She said satisfied.

"Nope." Sofia said, waving her phone in the air. Then she took off. I bolted after her because Steven, Scarlet, and Josh were still trying to get past another and the two brothers had ganged up on Scarlet.

We ran around the the entire tower until we bumped into Aunt Alana. Just so you know, Sofia and I are legally cousins.

"Sofia, Daniel?" She questioned. Sofia decided to take off again so I did the smart thing and discreetly slipped it out of her hand as we ran by, running in the other direction.

We ran by the common room where everyone else was and then I felt the camera being pulled out of my hand. I turned on Sofia who didn't have it either.

We looked at a smirking Aunt Jade. She was holding the camera and played the video on the big screen.

"Wait! Let's get the triplets here too." She said, grinning evilly. They came in, Scarlet sulking, and she sat next to me. I hid my face in her hair.

Then they played the video and the consecutive aww's were sickening to my ears. I groaned into Scarlet's shoulder.

"You guys are more adorable than us." Uncle Jason said, smirking.

"Really, you are. So adorable. It kills me." My mom said, smiling,

"Yup. Danny and Scarlet, sitting in the kitchen, K-I-S-S-I-" Maria started.

"SHUT UP." Scarlet yelled at them. I was so startled that I snapped my head up and looked at her. "We're adorable. I got it." she muttered.

"No. Don't agree with the enemy." I told her, looking at her betrayed.

"C'mon _Danny_ , you have to admit, we're pretty cute." she said, smirking. Of course.

"Your betrayal is like a sword to the heart." I said dramatically.

"Drama queen." she teased me.

"I thought you were my friend." I accused her, teasing back. She grinned wickedly, and what happened next I was not expecting at all.

She fisted the front of my shirt and pulled me in for a kiss. Then she pulled away, not letting go of my shirt and smirked. "See? We're absolutely adorable."


	18. New People

**Hello Everyone! This chapter is going to be Matthew centered. This is when everyone meets Ria and Marlin. This takes place right before Scarlet, Josh and Steven are born.**

Matthew and Ria: Age 20

(MATTHEW POV)

I'm still not quite over Bridget. And I still can't believe that I kissed Jade's _daughter_. Do you know how messed up that sounds? In my defense, she looked like my dead girlfriend. Speaking of Scarlet, she and her brothers are due any day now. So some people named Marlin and Ria are coming to the tower.

I think they were on the team with Jason and Jade. So they're coming later today, and Jade has been yelling at us to make sure the tower is completely spotless. She's such a neat freak. And Jason isn't any better.

And nobody is going to say anything to her about how the tower is already as clean as it's going to get, and that you can't keep Uncle Tony's lab clean. She's terrifying as is, but pregnant? Forget about it.

I walked into the common room and sat next to Rosa, currently exhausted from all that cleaning. A few minutes later Jason walked in followed by a tall man with sandy blond hair and green eyes, and a shorter indian girl with long, straight, black hair, bronze skin, and dark eyes.

"Matthew. You're staring." Rosa whispered to me, smirking. I blushed and glared at her. I know I was. Great.

We started introducing ourselves and went around the large room in turns. I'm dreading this. I'm seriously dreading this.

"I'm Rosa Morse-Hunter. My parents are Agent Hunter and Agent Morse and I'm 18." Rosa said. Shoot. It's my turn. Why am I nervous? I don't get nervous.

"I'm her brother. Matthew Morse-Hunter. I'm 20." I said. Thank god I didn't stutter or anything like that. This has only happened once before in my entire life. When I met Bridget.

I miss her so much. Too much I think. It's been three years but I'm still depressed th about this. I sighed and left the room.

I could feel Rosa's concerned faze following me out, paid no heed.

(RIA POV)

We were socializing around the common room and I'm just a tad worried about Matthew. It's a bit irrational. I haven't even talked to him yet, I don't know anything about him besides his name and age.

Yet I feel terrible for him. Is this normal? No. I'm usually very unsympathetic. I'm not easily fazed nor do I deal with emotions.

I walked over to Rosa to talk to her. "Hey Ria." She said. I smiled, then stared down at my glass of water.

"Hey Rosa." I said. "Is Matthew okay?" I asked, acting very nonchalant even though I saw the way she tensed.

"Well, yes and no. He's just kind of sad I guess. His girlfriend died in a car crash a few years ago. I don't know, he still gets depressed randomly. It's usually triggered by something, but I don't know what it was this time." she said.

"Oh." I said. She's lying to me. She knows exactly what triggered this. I'm a trained doctor. I can see her muscles tensing, her lip twitching ever so slightly, and the way her eyes narrow is almost indiscernible, but I see it. "Well, on a lighter note, I heard that you used to live in England. How is it? I've always wanted to visit." I said, changing topics.

(MATTHEW POV)

I walked into the room where Ria and Rosa were talking together and a bunch of the guys were hanging out and Jade and Jason were nowhere to be seen.

"Hey does anyone know where Jason and Jade went?" I asked them. Their eyes widened and Aunt Tasha asked JARVIS who said that Jade was giving birth right now.

Then Aunt Tasha bolted out of the room and downstairs to the hospital wing. Uncle Steve calmly walked after her and Juliana looked panicked.

"Guys. Relax. This isn't some kind of new phenomena. Every minute there is a baby born somewhere in the world. It's not some kind of life endangering procedure." Ria said exasperatedly.

"Right. Right. I know. It's just, she's giving birth to triplets." Juliana said. Ria's eyes widened.

"Oh my god. Why didn't she say something sooner? Having triplets means that she shouldn't have been on the plane after two months, not the four months that she waited. Good lord why does she do this to me?" she said, bolting after the others. There were a few hesitant laughs but there was this overhang of nervousness in the air.

"Matthew?" Rosa said. I walked over.

"What's up?"

"Well, let's see how to put this . . . so you remember Artemis and Apollo, right?" she asked. Of course, how could I forget the twin children of Thor and Jane? Ironically named after the twin greek gods? Nope.

"Yeah, what about them?" I asked.

"They're coming here! Tomorrow!" she whispered excitedly.

"Okay . . . didn't all of our parents agree that none of these children are supposed to know them?" I asked.

"Yeah, but apparently something has come up. Oh and another thing you probably should know. Remember when I went back to england for six months? Right, well, when i was there, I um, I kind of, well we are sort of-"

"Spit it out already!" I exclaimed.

"Apollo and I are dating!" she blurted out. I started laughing hysterically and she put her hands on her hips and glared at me.

"Wait . . . you're serious?!" I asked incredulously. She nodded, still glaring at me. "I'm sorry, but you guys are- well you guys have been best friends for a long time. Didn't you friendzone him a few years ago?" I asked.

"Yeah, because I was dating the creepy stalker." she muttered. "Worst choice of my entire life." she said.

"Okay okay. So that was a few months ago that you got back. Have you guys been in touch?" I asked.

"Well obviously. How else did you think I knew that they were coming?" she said, rolling her eyes at me.

"Whatever Rosa. Anyway, did he tell you why?" I asked. She bit her lip lightly.

"I can't say." she said. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm your brother. C'mon, you can tell me anything. I won't tell anyone." I said. She sighed and shook her head.

"He said that you'll find out tomorrow. He actually predicted that you'd try and pry the answer out of me." she told me. I laughed.

Then Juliana walked in sullenly, pouting. "What happened? Is Jade okay? Are the babies okay?" Naomi asked quickly.

She shook her head. "They're fine. Steven's here, but the other two aren't. They said I was getting in their way. So they made me come up here." she grumbled. We laughed lightly at the scene in front of us.

Here we have a 17 year old Juliana, the girl who broke a few of my ribs, pouting like a little kid. It's hilarious.

"Don't laugh at me. It's not my fault I want to see my niece and nephews. Jeez." she muttered. "Jack! You're supposed to be on my side!" she exclaimed to her boyfriend who was trying not to burst out laughing.

"Sorry Ana. It is kind of funny." he said, coming up to her.

She shoved him away lightly. "Meanie."

"Oh c'mon! You have to admit, you look like a little kid right now!" he said. I mentally face palmed. Relationships 101 kid.

"I do not." she said.

"Do too."

"My god you are both little children. Stop being pathetic and grow up." Sarah said exasperatedly.

The two looked at each other then back at us.

"She started it." jack said with a straight face.

"JACK BARTON I AM GOING TO GET YOU FOR THAT." Juliana shouted as he bolted away. She ran after him around the room, all of us trying to stay out of their way.

Eventually Juliana tackled him and the both fell down, her on top of him, and they started cracking up as though it was the funniest thing ever. I rolled my eyes and then suddenly Ria came in.

"You guys can come see the triplets now." she said smiling. We walked downstairs and each of us waited our turn to go see them.

Eventually it was my turn. I walked in with Rosa and we looked at the sleeping kids. Josh and Steven look almost exactly the same when their eyes were closed. Scarlet looked totally different, with her little red curls and slight freckles. They're adorable and I don't really like babies much.

Jade had fallen asleep and Jason was holding Scarlet and Steven.

We took our turns holding the kids and then left. I walked toward the kitchen by myself.

Apollo and Artemis are visiting? That's interesting. Aunt Jane said that she doesn't want them to have anything to do with these kids. Nobody can know that they exist because they're the heirs to Asgard. So what could've happened to make her change her mind?

I was lost in my thoughts when I bumped into Ria. She snapped her head up startled. "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't notice you." I apologized.

"It's fine. I should've been looking where I was going." She said. Okay, this is awkward.

"So . . . When are you guys leaving? I mean- not that I want you to leave, I just-" I shut up. I sound like I'm 14 again. God.

"Oh you're fine. We're leaving in a week." She said smiling. I smiled back.

"Oh. So you and Marlin were with Jaso and Jade for the past six months?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'll admit. We didn't get along at first. We had this whole long mission with a brainwashed guy who was taking over other people's brains in a revenge plot and he was apparently in her mind and Hydra had been planning this for a long time but then . . . you know what? I'm rambling." she said, blushing slightly. Nah, she's not blushing . . . is she? NO. NOPE. NOT HAPPENING.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. Believe me I get it. When my family first came here my dead girlfriend showed up but then it turned out to be Jason and Jade's daughter from the future in disguise and I kissed her which is so messed up and strange but at the time she was the same age as me so it wasn't that strange but it actually was. Now I'm ranting, great." I said.

She laughed. "Yeah, it's never easy with those two is it?" she asked, shaking her head lightly.

"Nope." I said, grinning.


	19. Babysitting

**Hello my friends! Sorry again for the long waits. I'm on break and I'm being sucked into the youtube wormhole. Just video after video after video. I have zero self control. I mean, I watch one video, and then that leads to another, then another, then I'm watching a totally different person than I was at first, and . . . I need to stop. Mostly I watch Superwoman, Connor Franta, Grace Helbig, Tyler Oakley, Troye Sivan, ThatcherJoe, Zoella, PointlessBlog, and the list could go on forever. Anyway, back on topic. This chapter was inspired when I had to babysit a my brother and his friend who are 10 years younger than me. JUST LIKE NAT, EDDIE, AND THE OTHER CHILDREN! The connections are mind boggling. I need to stop. I apologize sincerely for my hyperness. I'm going to shut up now. :)**

Nat and Eddie: Age 15

(EDDIE POV)

Our parents all had a mission to take of and so Nat and I were stuck babysitting the lot of children. One 6 year old, two 3 year olds, and 10 5 year olds. Fun. They said that they'd be back by late tonight, and that it shouldn't take that long, but who really knows with them? So Nat and I are stuck with babysitting duty. Why world, why? It's 5 AM and we have to watch them for a whole 20 hours. GREAT.

So right now they're all still asleep, but Jade and Jason should be awake at any moment now. Those two don't sleep. Ever. Technically Jade doesn't need that much sleep, but Jason? I don't know what his deal is. Personally I treasure my sleep.

As if she heard my thoughts, Jade came stumbling out of the elevator looking tired and delirious. Her red hair was everywhere and her clothes were rumpled. She just walked straight up to Nat and put her hands up. I stifled a laugh.

"Mommy. Pick me up." Jade said when Nat had no idea what to do. I laughed and Jade snapped her eyes open, looking at us.

"Where's mommy and daddy? Are they on a mission? I want to talk to them." she said. Nat got down to her level.

"Jade, they're on a mission, which means that we can't talk to them right now or they'll get distracted. We don't want that, because if they're distracted, they could get hurt. Ok?" she said. Jade just crossed her arms and shook her head stubbornly.

"No. I wanna talk to mommy and daddy." she huffed. Nat looked at me and I put my hands up in surrender. I'm not dealing with a moody supersoldier 5 year old.

Then as if he heard our pleas for help, Captain America called us. I sighed in relief and picked it up.

"Hi. Jade wants to talk to you." I said. He laughed over the phone.

"Yeah. I figured. Can you give the phone to her?" he replied.

"Sure." I said, handing it to Jade who snatched from me, a smug grin on her face. I rolled my eyes.

"Daddy!" "No. Nat and Eddie are meanies." "NO." "Fine." "Okay." "I will." "Be safe." "And don't be reckless!" "Come home soon!" she said over the phone before handing it back to me and jumping up on to the counter to grab her cereal. I let her, because I'm pretty sure she'll survive the 2 and a half feet fall.

"Nat?" that was Jason, also coming down. She sighed.

"Good morning Jason." she said. He looked around blearily.

"Where's mommy and daddy?' he asked. She explained it to him and he just nodded absently, seemingly too tired to understand at the moment. He looked at Jade who was on the counter and she nodded, grabbing his cereal down too. Honestly they're adorable. I ship it. Nat ships it. Our parents ship it. I'm pretty sure the 'Avengers Fandom' ships it. Don't ask about the fandom. We don't touch that. And I think the fandom ships everyone. Just because.

"Eddie? Can you give me milk please?" Jason asked, his eyes still half shut. I smiled slightly and poured him his milk. Then came the flood. Everyone except for Elliot, Alana, Jack, and Juliana came downstairs at once. We had to go through similar steps with them, explaining why exactly their parents were gone and all that.

We were so caught up in this that we didn't notice Jade and Jason leave the room with little devilish smirks on their tiny faces.

Later, when all the kids had eaten and washed up except for Elliot and Alana, we decided to go check on them. They're usually the early birds. We walked into Elliot's room first to find Alana there with him in the bed, and they were cuddling. Okay, that's just plain adorable. It's also good blackmail material for when they're older.

Nat took a quick picture and we left them, going back down stairs to find all of the children gone. We searched around for them everywhere and we checked their rooms too. Nobody was there, even Elliot and Alana had disappeared.

We searched for them until suddenly we were tackled from behind.

(LATER)

We were tied up inside a closet. I don't really remember how we got here, but we are. The kids are staring at us, Jade has her dad's spare shield, also vibranium mind you, not that I know how she got that either. So she was grinning triumphantly.

"These two fiends have been restricting our freedoms for too long! Now we have won back our liberties!" Jade said smugly. We rolled our eyes.

"What?" Alana whispered to Elliot who was next to her.

"These buttheads are being mean. And now we can do whatever we want." he translated. All the kids grinned. Then all of a sudden they shut the closet and ran wild.

(MUCH LATER)

We've been in here for at least 5 hours now. Nat had fallen asleep in a very uncomfortable position and I fell asleep at some point. How we fell asleep when there are screaming children everywhere I don't know.

Suddenly we heard Aunt Tasha gasp loudly. "Jade Elizabeth Rogers get your butt over here now!" she said.

"Yes mommy?' we heard her daughter reply sweetly.

"Jade, how do you have my shield?" Uncle Steve asked her.

"Easy. Got in through the vents, Second cabinet, false back, safe code was also easy but for your sake I won't say it here, and then the last three keys were in the false bottom of the chest next to the blue chair." she said.

I could almost see their jaws dropping. Nat had woken up a while ago and looked at me shocked.

"Okay. Where are Eddie and Natalie?" he asked.

"That's classified." she said.

"No Jade, it's not. Is the safety of the world depending on it? No? Then it's not classified." he said exasperatedly.

"Yes daddy, it is classified. The freedom of all the children in this tower rests upon that information. Aren't you supposed to symbolize freedom or something?" she asked snarkily. I can't believe she's 5. Really? Not possible.

"Yes, I stand for freedom, but you have freedom Jade, don't be dramatic." he said.

"I am not being dramatic! Those two are tyrants!" she said.

"What's a tyrant?" we heard Johnny asking.

"A butthead." Elliot translated once more.

"Young lady give your father back his shield, and then you are going to show me where Natalie and Eddie are, or else I will make you stay in your room, no friends, no exploring, nothing, for a month. Understood?" Aunt Tasha said strictly.

"You'll have to catch me first!" Jade said, running away. Elliot came and opened the closet door and untied us with a sigh.

"I can't run from my mom." he explained. I laughed and we got up to see Jade running away from Aunt Tasha. Then Uncle Steve ran after her and caught up to her quickly, grabbing her and looking at her sternly.

"Young lady you are in a lot of trouble." he said sternly as she squirmed, trying to get away.

"Okay. Fine. Ground me! And be guilty for the rest of your life!" she said over dramatically. I stifled another laugh.

"Uncle Steve, it wasn't just her. It was me too." Jason said. Nat was grinning madly.

"They're so cute. I can't even." she said excitedly. I rolled my eyes.

"Save your fangirling for later Nat." I said.

"Jase! What are you doing! You don't reveal yourself to the enemy!" Jade exclaimed loudly.

"Yeah, but it's not fair if you get in trouble for something we all did." he said. Uncle Steve was looking at them, his eyes MELTING. My god no one is invulnerable to their cuteness.

Jade used this to squirm away, and she and Jason ran for it. "Jase! Hurry up!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"Slow down Red! I'm not as fast as you!" he said, running as fast as his little legs would take him. Jade grabbed his hand and pulled him along. She's freakishly fast for a five year old.

Uncle Steve sighed and speed-walked after them, catching up to them in a few seconds, picking them both up and looking at them.

"You guys can't run forever." he said tiredly. Just then Jade decided to realize that her father had a large cut on his cheek.

"Daddy! I told you to be safe! You have a long cut! And it's BLEEDING!" she said, looking at him concerned. He laughed.

"I'll be fine. It'll heal up in an hour." Uncle Steve said.

"But daddy! You have to get a band-aid!" she insisted, wriggling out of his grip and grabbing a band-aid, then climbing back up and sticking it on his cheek.

"Okay. Okay." he said.

"Mommy! You're hurt too! Your arm! Didn't I tell you not to be reckless?" Jade chastised her mother. Aunt Tasha laughed.

"I'm fine Jade. Really, I am." she said.

"No. You're not. You two are in so much trouble." she said, dragging her parents behind her to get them more band-aids.


	20. Meet the Asgardians

**Hello everyone! It's already the 20th Chapter! This is the chapter where you meet Apollo and Artemis. This is sort of like a sequel to chapter 18. But it happens the next day. So without further ado, the Asgardians. Enjoy! :)**

Apollo and Artemis: Age 18

(ROSA POV)

I walked over to the kitchen and grabbed an apple. Apollo and Artemis should be here at any moment really, I just don't know when, so I have to be prepared. I hope everything is going to be alright. Apparently they're being chased after by some evil lady from Asgard that their parents refuse to tell them about, so they're coming here.

I'm just glad Matthew didn't go all overprotective older brother on me when I told him that we were dating. He did that last time, threatening the guy and telling me that it was a bad idea and that he had a bad feeling. He was right of course but that means i probably would've listened to him this time around.

Of course, Apollo, Artemis, and I have been good friends since we were little. So I don't think there's anything to worry about. Of course Matthew will probably give him the shovel talk, but that's to be expected.

"Are you planning on eating that apple, or just staring at it?" I heard a familiar female voice say from the doorway of the kitchen.

"Apollo! Artemis!" I said excitedly, pulling them both into a hug.

"Looks like somebody missed me." Apollo teased. I rolled my eyes.

"Missed us, Apollo, _us._ " Artemis corrected. I laughed and he rolled his eyes this time. "So. Care to introduce us to the people that live here?" she said.

"Yeah . . . about that, well, last time Matthew brought someone here it turned out to be one of my friend's daughters from the future secretly disguised as Bridget, who was dead at the time. So just be on guard, okay?" I said.

"Wow. Okay, but I think we can take them." Apollo said. I looked at him seriously.

"No you can't. By the way, we have three newborns in the house and one seriously pregnant girl too. Just so you know. No recklessness or Jade will kill you." I warned them. Then I noticed something.

"Artemis! WHY ARE YOU PR-" I shouted. She clamped her hand over my mouth. I moved it aside and looked at her crossly. "Explain. NOW." I said.

"Okay, okay. So I'm 19, it's not that bad, and she's due in a few months. It's all good. I promise. Relax. Relax. And did you say Jade? As in Jade Rogers?" she asked. I nodded.

"Oh! We met her and Jason! We were looking for an asgardian relic and they were too so we joined forces and so they'll trust us." Apollo said. I grinned, how is it that Jason and Jade just know everyone?

"You're not off the hook young lady. Who's the dad?" I asked her.

"First of all, I'm a year older than you, second of all, well, you don't know him." she said. I looked at her incredulously.

"You're 19! 19! Why would you do this? With somebody I haven't approved no less!" I said, offended.

"Oh c'mon. It's not that bad. You would like him. He's asgardian." She said smirking. I grinned.

"You're dating an asgardian?" I asked. She nodded smugly and I squealed in excitement. "Wait a minute! Is this the hot guy with the-" she clamped her hand over my mouth again.

"My brother is right here! Do you know what he would do to get blackmail material? Hush up already!" She said, looking at Apollo who had a grin on his face.

"Yeah. Which reminds me. Apollo, I haven't exactly told my parents about us yet. I told Matthew so he doesn't freak when he finds out and murder you in your sleep. But nobody else. Just so you know." I said. Suddenly Jade walked in, holding Scarlet, and looked at me pointedly.

"Hi guys. It's been a while." she said smiling.

"You didn't tell me you were having twins!" Artemis said.

"Because I wasn't." she said. As if on cue, Jason walked in with Steven and Natalie was holding Josh. "I had triplets." she said.

"Oh my god. What. Even. I've never met a set of triplets before. Okay okay okay. Anyway! Maybe we can get to know each other properly, you know, without fear of impending doom." Artemis said.

"Right. Anyway. Do you know how hard it is to have triplets? How do you feed them all at once? It's impossible! There's only two of us. And not to mention sleeping. I got absolutely zero sleep last night. NONE AT ALL. One of them is up at any given point in the night. I mean, I love them and all, but they are a pain in the backside." Jade ranted. Scarlet then started crying. "Okay, okay. I get it. I'll get it for you." she muttered to her newborn daughter.

"Who are you?" Alana asked warily, looking at Artemis and Apollo.

"Oh. Um, we're Thor's kids." Artemis said. Her jaw dropped and of course everyone chose then to flood in.

Everyone started buzzing, including the parents, getting louder and louder. The babies started fussing causing Jade to blow her top, handing Scarlet to me.

"Stop it! Jase and I met them on a mission. They're perfectly trustworthy. And yes, they are Thor's kids. They are being chased after and need somewhere with extra protection. Stop freaking out. You're the freaking goddamn Avengers and Agents of SHIELD. Grow up. I'm tired and hungry and my patience is just about gone. So shut up already. Now if you'll excuse me, I have three crying children to take care of." she said, causing everyone to quickly be quiet and her parents to look at her in concern. She took Josh from Nat, lifted Scarlet, Steven, and the bottles telekinetically, and stalked out.

"After I get back, your mother and I are going to have some words." Aunt Tasha said to them, before walking out after her daughter. I sighed.

"Okay . . . is she alright?" Apollo asked Jason.

"No. Not really. She insists upon getting up for them every time. I don't know. She won't let me. Like she physically will not let me get up from the bed. At all. I mean, I get why, but she just- she needs to take care of herself too. Hopefully this'll pass." he said, sighing and getting up.

(LATER)

I was sitting in the theatre room in front of the TV, alone, watching netflix, away from everyone else and their noisiness. Then Apollo walked in and sat next to me on the long couch.

He stayed quiet, which I was thankful for, because if he had said a word I probably would've slapped him. Everyone is so noisy and loud. I have a serious headache and I'm not going back to the crowds until I've watched at least 6 mind numbing episodes.

We watched in silence, the only sound being the sound effects from the TV show, which I wasn't really paying attention to. I just wanted an excuse to be away. I leaned my head on his shoulder and snuggled closer to him.

He glanced at me but still didn't say a word. I swear he can read minds. Which isn't a bad thing at all. I sighed slightly and shut my eyes reluctantly. My head is pounding. "Hey Apollo?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you really here?" I asked him. He looked at me bewildered. "This isn't the safest place for you to be right now. Not by a long shot. Not when your dad is who he is. You could be in Asgard at the moment, but instead you're here. Not that I'm complaining, but why?" I asked. He looked away and sighed.

"I don't know. I just told you what my parents told me. Honestly I've been wondering the same thing. But I'm here now, and I guess all we can do is wait until it comes to surface." he said.

"The last time I did that it didn't end well." I muttered. He looked at me and grabbed my hand.

"Rosa, don't worry. It'll be fine." he said, but when I didn't respond he grit his teeth. "But that's not what this is about." he half stated, half asked. "Rosa, I'll never, ever, force you to do anything you don't want to do. And I won't lie to you, or keep secrets from you, or anything like that. I get it, believe me I do. But you can trust me." he said.

I opened my eyes and looked at him. "I know. I do trust you. I just don't really trust the world outside of the people in this tower. Not really." I said.

"I don't really think anyone in this tower is different. Honestly I don't think Jason and Jade trust anyone but each other, and I don't think that my mom trusts many people either. My dad, well he's a little too trusting." he said. I laughed quietly, remembering all those times back in England.

We sat in silence for a little while, just looking at each other and totally ignoring the show. His eyes are really blue. Really blue. But Artemis has green eyes. Strange. Then he kissed me. And I just about melted. Literally melted.

"Okaaaaay. Well, you guys got the "netflix" down, but how about waiting to 'netflix and chill', okay?" Matthew said, smirking, from the doorway. We pulled away and looked at him, totally unamused.

"Tough crowd." he muttered. "Anyway, we were wondering where you guys were. We kind of offered to watch the triplets for a few hours so Jade and Jason could get some sleep. And we need all the help we can get. See, we have no idea how to handle babies in general, but crying, superpowered, newborn babies? Not a clue. Steven keeps going invisible when he gets upset, Josh is soaking us with water, and Scarlet is literally vibrating with how fast she's shaking herself. Help?" he said. I laughed at him and got up.

"Sure. Allow me." I said, going upstairs.


	21. Lies

**Hello peeps! Here is the new chapter. This one is going to center around Jade, Jason, and the triplets. I got this idea a while ago and I don't know how I can fit it into the other story so it'll be here. Think of the song "Show You" by Justin Bieber for the identity crisis part ;). Anyway, enjoy!**

Scarlet, Steven, and Josh: Age 12

(JOSH POV)

I was hanging out in the kitchen with Rebecca, Maria, and my siblings when we heard it. A loud crash. Scarlet raced out of the room.

We all ran over to where the sound had come from when Scarlet came back to us. "Someone's attacking mom and dad." She said, grabbing our arms and racing us all over there.

"Get out of here." Mom told us, flipping one of the guys over and landing a kick to his back with a sharp snap.

We were frozen, couldn't do anything as we saw somebody come behind them. I tried saying something but my voice wouldn't work and then they both let out ear piercing screams.

The masked person had objected them wit who knows what. Their bodies arched backward and their eyes glazed over, becoming an eerie light gray color. Then their screams stopped and they turned on each other. Oh god no. No no no.

Steven tried keeping them separated with a forcefield but then he cried out in pain, and with it fell the barrier. Then they went at each other. The attackers subtly left without us noticing.

Mom kicked dad, hard, and he aimed a punch at her head. She ducked and grabbed it, twisting. He didn't even blink, instead grabbing her and flipping her onto the ground.

She shot her legs up, kicking him in the gut as sending him back a little. Suddenly mom winced in pain and dad's hands went aflame.

I quickly extinguished his hands and he snapped his head to glare at me. He approached me and while he was distracted mom telekinetically threw a knife at him. Scarlet quickly ran and intercepted the knife, causing mom to glare at her harshly. Then Scarlet suddenly went slack, then turning on dad. I know what this is. Mind control. Mom is controlling Scarlet's brain. But this isn't mom now is it?

"Mission: Kill Jason Smith" mom said coldly, almost robotically.

"Mission: kill Jade Rogers" dad said in the same tone. I shuddered. I'm terrified. My parents are brainwashed. And my mom is controlling Scarlet. I have to do something.

I froze them in giant ice cubes, molding the water around them.

Then my dad burned himself out of it, heading towards my mom. He melted the area right around her heart and aimed a gun at it. My mom moved the gun telekinetically and turned it, aiming it at him.

Steven rushed at them invisibly and moved the gun. Then Scarlet ran at him and knocked the gun out of his hand. Suddenly there were guns aimed at my dad, me, Steven, and the other kids. I quickly motioned for them to leave. They ran away terrified, just as some of my friend's parents came rushing down. Aunt Sarah tried shocking them unconscious but it didn't work, they just kept going.

Uncle Johnny and Uncle Jack were shooting tranq arrows at them left and right, Aunt Alana and Uncle Elliot had engaged in hand to hand with them, going two on two.

They didn't even try to defeat anyone else, they just focused on each other. Killing each other. Their eyes were cold and empty, reflecting nothing in them but concentration. Mom had melted herself out and decided she was done with this. She unleashed her powers and everyone, including me, clutched their heads in pain. Dad ignored it and went towards her, unleashing his powers as well, and we all had fallen in absolute agony at his point.

Then they had knives, and were going at it, swinging and cutting each other, but regardless of the pain, kept on going. Mom had released her control on Scarlet and my sister got up, still in pain, and ran everyone out of the room, locking down the area that they were fighting in.

Mom had dad pinned to the ground and had a knife at his neck. We all drew in a sharp breath. But then dad had a flame positioned at her neck. So if either made a move, they would both die. Oh my god I'm about to lose both parents in a day, and to each other no less.

They stared at each other for a minute before dad made the move, pressing forward, causing mom to mimic the movement. I had stopped breathing. Then somebody came and saved the day, Steven was apparently still in there. He created a giant force field that expanding rapidly, blowing them across the room so they landed on the opposite walls from each other. He kept the force fields up and walked over to dad first, looking at him, and then did the same to mom. Then he released the barrier and they jumped up, crushing him in a hug. The lockdown glass wall was removed, and then they ran at me and Scarlet too.

They held on tight, cutting off my circulation everywhere, and I think they were crying. They didn't let go for a long time. When they did they kept apologizing over and over.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry. Are you guys hurt?" mom asked.

"No, we're fine." I said.

"Liars. Where are you hurt? Are you bleeding?" dad asked.

"We're fine!" Steven said.

"Stop lying! Steven's arm is hurt, Scarlet's head hurts, and Josh is fine thank god." mom said to dad.

"Okay. Steven, Scarlet, I want you two to go to Aunt Dianna and let her look at you. Josh, you go too, just in case. No buts!" Dad said.

We groaned. Looks like they're going to be just fine.

(JADE POV)

Oh my god. I can't believe this. Not only did I try to KILL Jase, I also brainwashed my daughter and mentally injured my sons. I knew this whole family thing would go wrong at some point. I just knew it. Everything I do now is to try and keep them safe. Josh, Steven, and Scarlet are my priority right now. And the fact that I just hurt them? Brainwashed or not, it's inexcusable.

I tried to keep them safe and away from all this crazy madness in our lives, but look where that ended up. They had to see their parents try to kill each other. Not to mention that this was the first time they've used their powers to fight. I didn't even want them to get their powers until they were older, but then when I was pregnant, before I even knew I was, we were on a mission where we were exposed to terrigen gas. Being inhuman it didn't affect us at all, but it did affect those three.

I still can't believe this. I knew that having kids was a terrible idea. I knew I would mess up somewhere somehow and end up scarring them for life. But did I pay attention to those nagging doubts in my head? No. Of course not. I went through with it and now I have to live with the guilt that I just ruined their childhood, or whatever is left of it. The last thing I wanted is for them to grow up like I did. So we shielded them in a sense. Never left any of the kids alone without at least two adults. Never gave them trackable devices. Never risked their safety in any way at all. And they question it. They get angered by it. But they didn't understand why. Maybe now they do. I'm a terrible mother.

"Red? Are you okay?" Jase asked me, looking concerned. I nodded.

"I'm fine." I said, turning and leaving. He won't get it. Not this time. As much as I want him too he won't. Because he's never been in this position before. Nor will he ever. So I have to deal with this by myself. Great. Now my kids see the truth.

The truth. Honestly that's just a joke at this point. I lie to everyone. Nobody knows except for Jase, and he doesn't even know it all. I lie to everyone about everything. The things I say, the things I do, my reasoning behind anything and everything, lies. LIES. And I'm so sick of lies. But I've dug myself in this whole and it's going to take a long time to get me out of it.

I tell my friends that I'm happy. I tell them that I'm okay. I tell them that the nightmares have stopped. I tell them that the panic attacks have stopped too. But they haven't. I tell them that I don't mind having to leave my kids at home while I go on missions while I'm freaking out on the inside. I tell them that I'm not scared of anything when I'm terrified of everything. I tell them that I can be trusted. So many lies. Too many lies. They're swirling around my head, telling me that I'm a liar. Which I am.

I lie to everyone. I lie and lie and lie and my whole life is lies. They're swallowing me whole. What do they even know about me anymore? What do they see? Who am I? I don't even know. I can think of all the things I used to be. But now, now, I'm a living lie. WHO AM I? I have no idea.

I sank down against the wall and put my head in my hands, the cold metal of the wedding band touching my forehead, tears streaming down my face. I remember that day so clearly. The kids were three, and everyone we cared about was there. Still only around 50 people. But it was still the best day of my life. I remember how terrified I was before the ceremony. And I remember Scarlet holding hands with little Maria and Marisa as they walked down the aisle before me spreading rose petals. I smiled slightly at the memory, wiping the tears from my face.

I remember Steven and Josh were the ring bearers. They were fighting over who would get to give which ring to who. Elliot was the best man, and Juliana was the maid of honor. I smiled a little more.

I think about how Daniel and Scarlet were already sneaking chocolate covered strawberries before the reception even started, chocolate smeared on their faces, claiming innocence. Steven had scared us senseless. He came up behind us, invisible, as we were about to take our picture, and then said boo, appearing out of nowhere. Our picture turned out hilarious. He was smart even as a three year old.

I remember Josh spilling water on my dress when he tried to use his powers to get himself a drink. Some people would be absolutely mortified that four kids "destroyed" our wedding, but really, they made it interesting. Then they got the little ones in on the fun too. Thomas, Maria, and Marisa had smeared frosting on our faces with their tiny one year old fists. So in the end we looked like hot messes, but it was so worth it.

I got up and went back to everyone else, a smile on my face. And this one was a genuine smile, not a lie.


	22. Adorable

**Hi everyone! Okay, so I have news. I'm thinking about not continuing this story. I love writing it but I feel like none of you are really interested. If I get at least 15 reviews, then I'll continue this. I'm not just looking for reviews, I swear. I just feel like it's a lot for me to write two stories on top of all my school work. I write for me and my readers, but if you guys aren't enjoying this then it might be better for me to stop this story. On a brighter note, this chapter is fluffy fluffy fluff! LIKE A MOUNTAIN OF FLUFFY GOODNESS JUST TACKLED YOUR HEART AND GAVE YOU SO MANY FEELS YOU CAN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND. Yup. That many feels. Anyway . . . this is going to be sibling fluff, Naomi and Tanner when they were kids. Enjoy!**

Naomi and Tanner: Age 6

(NAOMI POV)

I skipped down the hallway searching for Tanner. He was supposed to make me an aluminum airplane that actually flies in exchange for my talking robot. But now I can't find him.

"TANNER! WHERE ARE YOU?" I shouted out into the hallways. He peeked his head out of our dad's lab with an evil smirk.

"Come into my office." he said, grinning mischievously. I walked in, slightly confused, until I saw what he had done. I grinned too.

He had sabotaged the lab. He had written out 'Tanner and Naomi's Lab (NOT DAD'S)' on a sign on the back wall. He had the little airplane on the table and I brought out my little talking, moving robot.

"Tanner, you know dad's gonna kill us right?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yup!" he said. I smirked.

"Mmkay! Let's fly this airplane!" I said, grabbing it and examining it closely. He did the same to my robot, before putting it down.

"I'm hungry!" He announced.

"Then go eat smart one." I replied.

"Come with me?" He asked.

"I'm your twin not your babysitter." I said.

"Mimi! Please! Pretty please! With a cherry on top?" He asked.

"Don't call me that." I said, about to fly the plane.

"Mimi Mimi Mimi Mimi Mimi Mimi Mimi-" he started.

"Ugh! Fine!" I said, irritated. I hopped down off of dad's spiny chair and grabbed his arm, dragging him behind me as I ran into the kitchen.

I hopped onto the kitchen counter, searching for the granola bars that we both love.

"Naomi Stark." My mom said from behind me. I was so shocked I fell backwards on top of my brother and we landed in a pile, groaning on the floor.

"What were you doing on the counter?" She asked, looking at us from above us. She helped us get up, made sure we were okay, and then she's back to normal mom mode.

"I was getting this whiny kid some food." I said. He looked at me indignantly.

"I'm older than you."

"By 5 minutes."

"Still older."

"Still a kid."

"But you don't get to call me a kid."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too!"

"Mom! Mimi is bothering me!" He yelled.

"Mom! Tanner is being a snitch!" I yelled as well. Even though my mom was right in front of us.

"Both of you need to stop your bickering. Did you hurt yourselves?" She asked.

"No." We said. She sighed.

"Okay. What were you two up to before this?" She asked.

We looked at each other sheepishly. "Um, nothing?" Tanner said. I elbowed his side and he yelped.

"He actually meant that we were sitting in his room reading a book." I said innocently.

"Mm hmm. Okay. Why don't we go take a look at dad's lab then?" She asked. We blanched.

"I don't think that's a good idea mom. Dad might get mad." Tanner said. Good, he used his brain this time.

"Please Tanner. It's sweet of you to try and protect me from dad's wrath, but he only gets upset at you two, not me." Mom said, smiling slightly.

"But then we can't come with you!" I said, maybe a little too desperately.

"Oh honey it'll be fine. Unless of course you two have something to hide?" She said.

I went even paler, my freckles popping against my skin. "No!" I squeaked out.

"Okay then." She said. We walked into the lab and she examined it, looking at it warily.

"It wasn't us!" We protested before she even said anything. Of course dad had to walk in right then.

"Tanner and Naomi Stark. What did you do to my lab?!" He asked. I looked at my brother.

"He's mad now. We should run." I said, grabbing his arm again, and then we took off.

Our dad is generally a fun guy, except when we mess with his lab. That's the only time he ever gets really upset.

We ran and locked ourselves in a closet. We took deep breaths and looked at each other in the dark.

"They're going to kill us." We said in unison. Then we huddled up. It was cold in there!

A few hours had passed and nobody had found us yet. We had heard them calling our names, they even sent Jade and Jason after us, but nobody found us.

Tanner had fallen asleep on my shoulder, his hair that looks exactly like mine since I got a pixie cut in my face. I blew it away, muttering to myself.

I sat there and thought to myself. This is all Tanners fault really. Why am I hiding? I could just tell on him and get off Scot free!

So why am I hiding with him? Maybe because I actually maybe sort of kind of care abou my brother? Nah. No way. I do not _love_ my brother. First of all, boys have cooties, second of all. He's _Tanner_. I not supposed to like him.

Mom always says that no matter how much we deny it, we actually love each other, and that we'll realize it as we grow up. I think that's a load of crap. I don't know what it means, but it sounds ridiculous. I heard dad saying it too. That means it _must_ be ridiculous.

Back on topic. I do not care about Tanners wellbeing. The logical part of me questions why I don't leave now then, but I ignore it. I leaned my head on top of his and decided to sleep until someone found us.

(LATER)

I woke up to my mom and dad standing above us, taking a picture. I snapped my head up and Tanner did as well. We have each other disgusted looks before glaring at our parents.

"Mom! Dad!" We shouted.

"Aren't they adorable?" Dad teased. I frowned at him.

"I am not adorable. I am a grown woman, thank you very much." I said indignantly.

"Uh huh. That's why you are hiding in a closet asleep with our brother after hiding from us." My mom said.

"Ugh. I was not." Tanner protested, scooting away from me.

"I know. Eww." I said, scooting further from him.

"You two are ridiculous." My dad said, smiling. "I think they got that from me." he said, smirking.

"DAD. WE ARE NOT RIDICULOUS." We shouted.

"No. No you're not." he said seriously.

"What?" mom asked him, slightly confused.

"They're downright adorable. Newborn puppies have got nothing on you two." he said, smirking.


	23. Wedding Dresses

**Hello everyone! I have decided to continue this story, simply because I have a few readers that are supporting me right now and I value them and their input (Ya'll know who you are! ;).) Also, I had this idea and I had to write it down. This is going to be a series of chapters revolving around Natalie and Eddie's wedding! (Insert girlish squeals of excitement here) I'm so excited! So enjoy!**

I'm terrified. Eddie proposed to me a few months ago, but we wanted to wait for Riley to get a little older before we got married. And it's happening in two weeks.

I'm going to be a married woman in two weeks. I'm taking all of the girls and moms with me dress shopping today. Or more like dragging. We've been legally married for a while now, but held off on the ceremony because we wanted Jason and Jade to be here totally unhurt and available. Of course, Jade happens to be pregnant, which I'm still kind of grossed out about.

I mean, my brother did what!? It's weird. He's still ten, right? What happened? Ugh.

"Are you excited?" Sarah asked me. I looked over at my younger cousin.

"Yeah I guess so." I said. She looked at me curiously but before she could ask we were told to get out of the cars and into the store.

"Hello! I'm Nancy! I'll be helping you all out today! Feel free to look around and call me over when you find something." said a store associate. She looked happy and bright, and I instantly liked her.

I looked around, holding Riley's hand as she tried to touch every dress there. I didn't end up finding anything but everyone else had found at least two besides Jade. She only found one, but refused to show it to me. Whatever. I'm not arguing with her.

"Okay, let's go try them on!" Nancy said. I smiled.

"Okay Riley, can you go sit next to Aunty Jade?" I asked her. She nodded and ran over to sit next to Jade.

I tried on the first one and it was okay. Too big I think. Too much in general. It's just not me. I'm more of a simple person, not really one to go big with glitter and things like that.

I walked out and there were varying looks on people's faces. "I think it's nice, but too poofy." Naomi said.

"I think it's great." Dianna said.

"It's not . . . you." Alana said.

"I agree with Alana." Mom said.

"I think it really depends on what you're looking for." Aunt Tasha said.

"I don't know. I think it's too much for me." I said, looking at myself in the mirror.

"Okay, let's go try on another one." Nancy said, still smiling widely. She handed me a floor length white silk gown with lace overlay covering the entire thing with no sleeves.

I walked out once more. I got some oohs and aahs from this one, but I think it's too much lace. "It looks great on you." Aunt Pepper said.

"I agree." Aunt Skye said.

"Mommy looks FABULOUS." Riley said excitedly. Everyone laughed at her pronunciation. She said it like fahb-oo-lahs. It's cute.

"I think it's too much still." Sarah said.

"I think you're right." I said. I went to change into another dress and my phone rang in the dressing room.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey Nat. I'm sorry I'm late, I'll be there in a 20 minutes." It was Ari. I had forgotten I'd invited her.

"Oh it's fine. Just know, everyone's here." I told her. She was silent for a minute.

"Oh. Including?" she trailed off.

"Of course she's here. She's my brother's girlfriend and practically like my little sister. Not to mention that she's my future sister-in-law." I said.

"Right. Okay. I'll be there soon. Bye Nat." she said.

We hung up and I put on the next dress. None of them were really good for me, and Jade hadn't said anything about any of them yet. Actually she hadn't said anything since we got here. I hope she's okay. I also hope nothing happens between her and Aria. They didn't leave off on the best terms. Okay, not even on remotely civil terms.

I had tried on many dresses so far, and I was exhausted. Then, perfect timing as usual, Aria walked in. All of the moms went to greet her, the younger girls greeted her too, but Jade refused to move, glaring ahead.

"Hey Jade." Aria said awkwardly, trying to initiate conversation. Jade gave me a look before glaring at Ari.

"Did you need something?" she asked her older sister.

"Jeez. No need to be rude." Ari muttered.

"Don't talk. You left without even a note. Nothing! And it's not even like you had to leave immediately. You were chatting inside. I guess that's the kind of thanks you show people for doing you some massive favors." Jade said, looking highly irritated, and restraining herself because Nancy was there.

"Oh you're not still upset about that, are you?" Ari asked. I flinched. She's going to get it now.

Surprisingly Jade did nothing, just looked away and stayed silent. What? Aria just pushed some major boundaries right there. Aria went and sat on one of the couches opposite from Jade. I sighed in relief. That could have gone a lot worse. "Those two don't get along huh?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah. They're half sisters that didn't meet until this year. They don't really mesh well." I said. She smiled.

"That's alright. Today is all about you. How are you related to them?" she asked.

"Well, Jade, the younger one, is kind of like a little sister to me, and she's my brother's girlfriend. Aria, the older one is my best friend. So you know, they're both in my life permanently." I said.

"Even Jade? I mean, she's more like an addition, right?"

"Well no. I mean, my brother and her have been dating since they were 12. And they've been best friends since birth. So you know. They're destined to get married. We're all family friends." I said, smiling to myself.

"Well. We;ve got more dresses to try on!" she said.

There were more dresses too. Some very poofy, some very glittery, some too short, some too tight, some too long.

I tried on at least 50 dresses until I got to the last one, that I hadn't seen before. I assumed that this one was the one that Jade had picked out.

I tried it on and smiled brightly. It was a floor length dress with long sleeves and bare shoulders. It had a silvery sheen to it and it had a silver design trailing up the side. It was gorgeous. It was easy to move in and fit perfectly.

I walked out feeling confident and everyone was stunned. "That looks amazing!" Sarah said.

"It really does." Naomi agreed.

"You look stunning Nat." mom told me.

"Thanks. I like it a lot. I think this is the one. What do you all think?" I asked.

"I love it." Aria said. Everyone agreed. It was unanimous.

"Jade? What do you think?" I asked her. She looked at me and smiled.

"You look great Nat. It'd beautiful." she said. I smiled and turned to Nancy.

"I'm going to get this one." I said. She smiled and helped me purchase it. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Aunt Tasha talking to Aria.

"Aria. Just apologize. You do realize she saved your life, right? And that she doesn't trust people, yet she told you about her past? She opened up to you and then you just dissapeared without good reason. She might be super powerful and all that, but she's still only human. Well, I suppose she's inhuman, but that's besides the point. And she's pregnant, so gettign on her nerves is not a good idea." I heard her say.

"But mom, I don't think you get it." Aria protested.

"Oh no, I get it, because I did the exact same thing to your dad. I pushed him away and made it seem like i didn't care because I didn't want to get attached. So don't talk to me about not getting it. I do. Better than anbody else will." she said.

"Mom. Not now. Let's just make this time about Nat. Let her enjoy herself?" she half pleaded.

"You're too old for me to decide what you do. Just know that if you don't, nobody is going to leave happy. Also, just so you know, if you mess with Jade, you mess with Jason, and if you mess with him, then you also have Nat on your case." she informed. And she's right. If it came down to Aria or Jason, I would ultimately choose Jason. Don't get me wrong, Aria is my best friend, so it wouldn't be an easy choice, but Jason is my little brother.

"I know mom. I'll figure it out." she said. We headed back to the cars. I sat next to Jade in the back and looked at her.

"How are you doing?" I asked her.

"Well, I don't know. I just kind of can't believe that there are three human beings growing inside of me." she muttered.

"Yeah, crazy right? But it's worth it." I told her.

"And Aria isn't helping. Why didn't you tell me you invited her? I could've mentally prepared myself." she said, not accusing me, just kind of tired.

"I forgot. I'm sorry, I should've told you, it just totally slipped my mind. But are you sure that's all that's bothering you?" I asked her.

"It's uncomfortable. And weird. And not normal. And I had to get new bras. And new clothes in general. And I feel fat and unproportional." she complained.

"I get it, believe me I do. And it only gets worse from there. But hey, it's like three for the price of one for you!" I joked. She cracked a small smile.

"Yeah." she said quietly.

"Jade? You can talk to me, you know that right?" I said. She looked at me, and she looked terrified.

"What if I mess up? I'm not a very good person Nat. Not in any way. What if I do something wrong? I don't want them to be like me." she said so quietly I had to strain to hear her.

"Jade, you are a good person. You save lives, and even if you've killed, everyone in the tower has, and you do it for the good of others. And you don't enjoy it. Also, everyone worries about messing up, but it comes naturally. Really it does. I didn't believe my mom when she told me that, but it does. I mean, it's like a second instinct, where you just know why they're crying and what they need. It'll come to you. You won't 'mess up' Jade." I told her.

She looked like she could breath a little easier after that. "Thanks Nat. But I just don't know. I'm barely getting any sleep as it is, and Jase isn't getting much sleep either because of me, and it's so frustrating, because I have nightmares where the teenage versions of themselves go through terrible things, and it's not okay. Also, I don't know if I told you, but I started having visions of the future. And I don't know which of those nightmares are normal and which will actually happen." she said.

"Relax. I promise you, everything will be fine. As for the dreams, try taking an overdose of benadryl. It helps." I said.

"Overdose?" she asked, confused.

"Your metabolism remember? Normal dose won't affect you at all." I told her. She smiled slightly.

"Right." she said. We had gotten back into the tower and the guys had apparently gotten back before us. They had been going suit shopping for Eddie. And yes, they all went.

We greeted them and I looked for Eddie, but he wasn't there. I walked over to Jason and Jade who were talking.

"Give me a minute." Jade said, walking away quickly.

"Was she acting weird today?" he asked me. I looked at him.

"We talked it out." I said. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"So she told you and not me." he said.

"Yup. You wouldn't understand." I told him. He looked at me skeptically.

"Really?" he asked.

"Well I mean, unless you understand girls' undergarments and their sizing, I don't believe you would." I told him with a straight face, trying to make him uncomfortable.

He went completely red and glared at me. "Did you have to say that?" he asked me, not amused. I laughed at him.

"That's what big sisters are for Jason. That's what they're for." I told him, grinning.

"Ugh. Whatever. But really, is she okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah. We really did talk about it. But she's also kind of pissed because Aria is here." I replied. He rolled his eyes.

"Brilliant timing as always." he muttered. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I questioned. He shrugged.

"Neither of us have gotten much sleep lately, and then she has to show up? I don't like her Nat." he said, crossing his arms.

"Okay. Just don't do anything stupid." I told him. He rolled his eyes.

"I'll try not to." he said, smiling slightly.

"I picked out my dress." I said, smiling.

"That's great. Eddie picked out a suit as well. It's-"

"Don't tell me!" I interjected.

"Jeez, okay. I still can't believe you're getting married." he said.

"Why not? Can't handle some mushy gushy-ness?" I teased him. He pretended to gag.

"Eww no." he said.

"Please. It's not like you and Jade don't do all of the mushy gushy couply things that Eddie and I do." I told him.

He went red again. "But you're my older sister. You're not supposed to get married." he informed me.

"Oh really? Who said that?" I asked.

"You're Nat. You can't be married. Look! You never wear dresses. EVER. I haven't seen you wear one since you went to prom." he said.

"But this is a wedding." I told him, my lips twitching slightly.

"But it's so not . . . Nat-ish." he countered.

"What? Getting married?" I asked amused.

"YES!" he said loudly. Everyone turned to look at him before we started laughing hysterically.

Jade walked into everyone laughing and looked bewildered. "Okayyyy then." she muttered, looking at us confused.


	24. Time Switch

**Hello everyone! I'm back! This chapter is going to center on Jade, Jason, and their kids.**

Jade and Jason: Age 29

(JASON POV)

I'm really worried. Jade has been turned back into a 14 year old and is in the mental state of her 14 year old self too. It's like you've gone back in time and took the Jade from 15 years ago and out and put her back in this time.

So she doesn't know about the kids. Or anything we've been through lately. And she really doesn't understand why I'm so much older.

The kids are ten though, so they'll understand that Red is not normal and they'll understand that something is really wrong with their mom. But at the same time they're really young and this could be seriously trying.

Okay. So now I'm going to find out what being a single parent is like. At least until they can find a way to change her back. I sighed and we walked back into the hallway.

"Red, can you wait out here for a minute?" I asked. She nodded silently, and it reminds me way too much of the past.

I went into the Common room where everyone was hanging out. "Dad!" the triplets said excitedly. Then they frowned. "Where's mom?" Steven asked.

"Well, she's different right now. On the mission, she was turned back into a 14 year old." I said, glancing up at everyone to make sure they understood the true complexity of the situation. "And she's really shy and she kind of doesn't know who you are." I said. Their eyes widened.

"She what? Where is she? Are you sure she's okay?" There are the rapid fire questions. I should've expected that.

"She's right outside. I'm going to get her. I'll be right back." I said, walking back out. She followed me back in and she saw everyone there but narrowed her eyes at the kids who she had never seen before.

"Why do you look like a younger version of Jase and you're an older version?" She asked quietly.

"Well, um, you're kind of my mom." Steven said. Her eyes widened.

"Wait what? But what about her? And him? TRIPLETS. YOU GOT ME PREGNANT WITH TRIPLETS WHEN I WAS NINETEEN?!" She asked incredulously.

"Your mom already yelled at me enough." I said, smiling.

"And I'm guessing you're all kids of our friends then." she muttered, looking around at all the new people.

Then she saw little Brianna peeking out at her from behind Juliana.

"Ana, is she-"

"Yeah. Her name is Brianna." Juliana said, smiling.

Jade looked around some more, surveying everything. Then she looked back at me.

"Why are you so much taller? And more muscular? I mean, I know you would've grown, but not that much." she asked.

"It's a really long story. Basically I was really hurt and we had to speed up the process so you gave me some of your super soldier serum." I said. She looked at me blankly.

"You're lying." she said.

"You know I'm not. I'm surprised you're asking this many questions when you can find out the answers yourself. " I told her.

"You know?" She whispered, before looking around at everyone else. "You all know? Oh my god." she said, before turning and leaving. And even as a 14 year old, she knows this place by heart.

I sighed. "Dad? Is mom going to go back to normal soon?" Josh asked.

I looked at their faces. They looked terrified. "Yeah. She'll be fine in a little bit. We're going to try and find a way to bring her back to normal." I said. They nodded.

"But what if we don't find a way?" Josh asked quietly.

"We will. We always do." I replied, smiling at them slightly. I have to be reassuring right now. I can panic later. Right now my kids need me.

"Okay." Steven said quietly. By this point everyone else had left, the scientifically gifted people going to find cures, the others going to investigate.

"Dad, I'm scared." Scarlet said quietly. I pulled them all in for a hug.

"I know. And it's okay to be scared sometimes. But I promise, everything will be fine soon." I told them.

"You are never going on another mission ever again." she told me.

"Funny. Your mom said the exact same thing to your Grandpa Steve when he came back from a mission really badly hurt one time." I said, smiling. She looked at me curiously.

"So what happened to her? I know something happened to her when she was 14. And I know it was how she got her powers." she said.

I was slightly shocked but didn't show it. "Okay. I'm going to tell you this, and it's going to shock you a little bit." I said, taking a deep breath. "When your mom was fourteen, she was kidnapped. She was tortured a lot there. They gave her telepathy, telekinesis, made her inhuman, and enhanced the super soldier serum in her. You know about her scars? That's where most of them came from. She doesn't like needles, knives, blood, or dentist chairs. She doesn't like being in the dark alone, she won't sleep, she probably won't talk to you unless you ask a question. She won't raise her voice. She won't argue. And most importantly, she doesn't remember anything about you guys. To her it's probably strange that she has children." I explained to them.

"Why would anyone do that to her? She's the nicest person in the entire world." Josh said, looking appalled. For this were any other situation I would've smiled, because he is such a mommy's boy.

"I know Josh. Believe me, I know. She didn't deserve any of it. But sometimes people are cruel and mean and evil." I said. They looked down.

"Does this mean we have to do our chores without reminders then?" Josh said, in an attempt to lighten the mood. And we all cracked smiles.

"Hey. Don't look so sad. Aunt Dianna and Uncle Robert and everybody else is going to help find a way to turn her back. It'll take a few days at most." I said. They smiled. "I have to go find her now." I said. They nodded and I left, looking for her.

I'm guessing that she's been brought back to the first night back. Before we started sleeping together on a daily basis. And I mean literally sleeping in the same bed. Don't be dirty minded. So she's not going to get any sleep until she's back to normal, because I know for a fact that sleeping with anyone is strange to her, but I'm a lot older than I used to be. And that's just a little creepy.

And she's not going to trust me as much as a result of it. Maybe Juliana can try? Or Scarlet. Scarlet has always been good at making her feel better.

I walked up the large flight of stairs that lead to the roof. I know she'll be here, even if it's the middle of winter. She wouldn't care.

This hurts a lot. Seeing her like this just brings me back to those days. And she had so many setbacks even afterwards that she never truly recovered. But she had gotten extremely close to it before this.

We had been on a mission to retrieve an 084, but then there was some sort of gas bomb that knocked us both out. When I woke up, she was unconscious and 14. So I brought her back to the plane and here we are.

I walked out onto the large roof and the wind was strong. But it didn't matter that much. If I was anyone else I would have blown off the roof.

"Red?" I asked, knowing better than to sneak up on her.

"We're over here Jason." I heard Juliana say from behind a large vent like structure.

I walked over and smiled slightly. Jade had fallen asleep, leaning her head back on the vent.

"Go stay with the kids. I'll stay here." she said. I smiled.

"Thanks." I said. She smiled back.

"It's fine. She's my sister. Even if she's younger than me now." she said.

I went back down the stairs.

(EARLIER, JADE POV)

I know where I am, but at the same time don't. I'm in Avengers Tower. I'm with my family and Jase and my friends, but they're all so old. And Jase isn't the same person. And I have KIDS. And they all somehow know about my telepathy. What happened to me? All I remember is trying hard to fall asleep, but failing, and then I blinked and somehow miraculously ended up here.

I sat on the cold roof in a spot that shielded me from the wind. Just that thought reminds me of the stupid agency that caused all of this.

I don't hate SHIELD. I just hate that I'm part of it. I want to be a normal kid. With normal problems. With normal homes and families and no scars or nightmares or kidnappings or tortures or any of that.

I sighed. No tears will come out at this point. I'm sick of them. I'm sick of life. I want to go home.

A small part of me is arguing that this is home, while another says that it's not. I mean, it's the same building, with mostly the same people.

Then I heard footsteps and I tensed until I saw who it was. It was just Juliana. She looks relatively the same, just with longer hair, taller, more mature, you know, the things that come with aging 15 years.

"Hey." she said. I smiled.

"Hey." I replied quietly. She sat down next to me, away from the wind.

"Well for once I'm the older one." She joked, smiling. I smiled slightly before my face went back to normal.

"Jade? I know this is probably really strange for you, but just don't be too weirded out. We kind of know everything." she said. I frowned slightly.

"Are you certain you know everything?" I asked. She nodded.

"We know about Charlie." she said quietly. I sucked in a breath. I feel so guilty about that. He had tried to escape, and he freed me before he left. I had forgotten and it's eating me alive.

"Oh. How is this even possible?" I asked.

"I honestly have no idea. I mean, this is all kind of strange for me too. One minute you're my bossy, overprotective sister getting mad at my husband for letting Bria crawl around the Tower on her own, then you go on a dumb mission and return fifteen years younger." she said. I smiled. That's the Juliana I know. Infallibly honest with the tendency to ramble uncontrollably.

"I'm bossy?" I asked, smiling.

"Oh my god yes! You're worse that Elliot is to Alana. And Elliot is terrible." She told me.

"Oh I know. Elliot is like the overprotective big brother to all of us." I said.

"Yeah. And you're worse than him. Jack is convinced you want to behead him." she said.

"Oh I don't want to behead him. I know you love him. I mean, you ended up marrying him. I would never actually carry out any of my threats. I just like to see him squirm." I said, laughing lightly.

"I know. If you actually did any of that I would be so mad at you." she replied.

I smiled, but didn't reply. I remember when Johnny and I were not so discreetly spying on them and we ended up fighting inside the vents. Those were happy times.

"I'm sorry." I said quietly.

She looked at me incredulously. "You know I was just joking right? I'm not actually upset about you being overprotective?"

"Not about that. I'm not an easy person to live with. I know that. And I know that it was really hard for you when I was gone. I just never want you to ever get hurt or be scared or any of that." I said. It's kind of nice to admit these things to her, because I would never tell this to 12 year Juliana.

"I know. And you could be the most difficult person in the world to live with, but I wouldn't care at all. Nobody would. There was a time when everyone was scared for you, even mom and dad were slightly afraid. But even with your telepathy, you thought that everyone was scared OF you. And then less than a year later you got pregnant and you were scared of yourself too. You were terrified that you would be a terrible mother, that you would mess up, that your kids would end up getting hurt. But look at them. They love you. You're their favorite person in the world. Well, Scarlet's favorite. Josh says he loves Jason more, and Steven says it's 50-50. But regardless, you're okay now. You've got a husband and three kids who all love you. You have me, mom, and dad, who all would do anything for you. Things do get better." she told me. I smiled slightly.

"Thanks Ana." I said. I sighed and leaned my head back. The wind was cold and harsh against my skin, and I was only wearing a thin shirt. I let myself close my eyes and eventually fall asleep.

I was still slightly awake. A habit I was forced to pick up while I was in Australia. If I had fallen asleep when they got back, they would wake me up by stabbing me in the gut. I sighed and subconsciously moved my hand to cover my stomach.

I heard Jase come around the corner and then leave, Ana saying that she would stay with me. I then thought about Jase. He's so much more mature looking. He doesn't have that light-hearted and happy vibe to him anymore. Much more weighed down. And how did he get so hurt that he needed Super-soldier serum. Also, as far as I know, you need a needle to get the serum out of my blood stream. And there is no way I would've willingly let anybody put a needle in my arm. Although I must have, because nobody would ever make me.

And thinking about it, I might do it. Maybe not right now, because I would probably just seize up at the sight of one. But in a few years, I could see myself doing that.

I like this wide open space. It's nice to not feel constricted at all, to feel free. I haven't felt like that in a while.

Suddenly I heard some people approaching me. They spoke for a few minutes, talking about how they should change me back while I'm sleeping because it's an injection to get me 'back to normal'. So I did the logical thing. I snuck away while they were talking and bolted to my room. Or at least what I thought was my room. Now it's light pink whereas mine is gray. And there were many other differences. Including the three kids sitting on the bed talking.

"Mom?" Scarlet asked. I froze.  
"I'm not your mom." I said quietly. I saw the look of pain in all of their eyes before they recovered from that blow.

"Okay . . . um. What are you doing here exactly?" Steven said, breaking the silence. I looked at them curiously, analyzing their brains.

"Well, this was my room." I muttered.

"Ohhhhhh. Yours and dads room is across the hall now. I mean, you know, you guys are kind of married and all that. Also, I find it really strange how everything about you changed, your clothes changed, your memories changed, your mentality changed, everything changed as though you're an exact copy of the you from 2039." Steven said, analyzing me. "And you're not mom-ish. Usually you tell me to write these thoughts down so I can look into them later, not just stand there giving me a blank look."

"Um. Okay." I mumbled. "I'm just going to go." I said.

"Great Steven! You scared her off with your nerd talk!" Josh said irritatedly. He got that from me.

"Oh please. The room is PINK. Mom despises pink. If anything it's Scarlets fault." Steven said.

"My fault? Don't involve me. I think it's Josh's fault." she argued.

"Why me?" Josh asked incredulously.

"Your hideousness scared her off."

"You just insulted both her and dad considering I look exactly like them. So it is your fault." Josh replied.

I laughed at their ten year old logic which made them turn back to me, going red.

"Sorry mom." They said in unison. Before simultaneously face palming. They all groaned. "This is so confusing." Scarlet muttered. Oh yeah, she's a carbon copy of me.

"Aww Scar it's not that bad." A dark haired boy said, walking in, giving me a glance. I immediately saw the looks between Scarlet and him and determined that something was happening there and I felt like punching the boy and cooing over their cuteness at the same time. Is that strange?

"Oh is that so Daniel? It's not your mom that was turned into a teenager." She pointed out.

"True. But my mom as a teenager would probably be better. She wouldn't be all smart and stuff." He said. So he's Dianna and Elliot's kid. That explains it. He has Elliot's hair and Di's eyes with in between skin.

"Anyway, um . . . What do I call you?" He asked, giving me a curious look. "You know what, I'm calling you Aunt Jade because that's who you are. Even if you're wayyyyyy younger." He decided before I could reply.

I shrugged. I'm just enjoying this. I find it hilarious. Then suddenly, as I was distracted, I felt something get injected in my back.

(JASON POV)

Well, she's going to kill me when she regains consciousness. I just stuck a needle in her back without permission at all. I mean, I had to, because there's no other way to get her back to normal, but I still feel a little bad about using Daniel as a distraction.

But I knew it would work. So I did it. She slumped back and I caught her quickly, and then something really strange happened. She started growing, getting a lot taller, her hair growing, basically turning back to normal.

It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of weird things. The kids looked like they were mentally scarred. Her clothes had somehow miraculously changed back to her SHIELD tactical gear.

I put her on Scarlet's bed and a few minutes later she woke up. She sat up and and rubbed her temple.

"I just had the weirdest dream." She muttered. We just looked at her, waiting for her to figure it out. "It wasn't a dream was it? Oh great."

"So. You stuck a needle in my back when I wasn't suspecting." she accused, giving me a look. I shrugged. I thought she was going to punch me, but instead she kissed me. "Thanks."

"Any time." I said smirking.

"Eww. Guys. No. Stop." Scarlet said, grossed out.

"Go somewhere else to do your mushy gushy blah." Josh agreed.

"It's called kissing guys. And they're married. Don't be so immature." Steven said.

"It's still gross." Daniel said. We gave each other knowing glances.

"I'm willing to bet that Daniel and Scarlet are going to end up getting married." I said. The two kids in question scooted away from each other and went bright red.

"Same here, I also think that Josh and Rebecca will get married." Red added in. Josh covered his face with his hand.

Steven laughed at them. "And you'll end up with Sofia." I added. He stopped abruptly.

"No way! That's so gross." Daniel said.

"Firstly, I find you gross too Daniel. Secondly, I don't need a boy. I'm never getting married. Or having kids. I'm going to be a single pringle for the rest of my life." Scarlet responded.

We laughed. "I'm glad you guys are okay." Red told the kids.

"Oh we were fine. You were being weird. And you were giving us what you would classify as 'sass'." Josh said, imitating his brother.

Steven rolled his eyes in return. "I do not sound like that." he said.

"Yeah, but I never mentioned who I was imitating, which means that I was spot on." Josh replied.

"Ooooooh roasted!" Daniel said, laughing.

"Ugh. Boys." Scarlet muttered irritably. Red was smiling, but I could feel the sadness radiating off of her in waves.

I can't say anything here though. The triplets have the same super soldier hearing that we do. It's strange though. They're growing up too fast. And to be honest, I'm terrified of that.

I want them to stay young and innocent forever. As they get older, danger will always follow. And I kind of want to hide them and shelter them forever.

I sighed, looking at them all bickering. It's actually kind of funny. Josh and Scarlet might as well be carbon copies of us, and Steven is like a mixture, but so much smarter. I have no idea where he gets his intelligence from, not saying that Red and I are dumb, but we were never as smart as he is. And will be.

I remember when they were seventeen and came back into the past. I remember how different Red seemed to me at that point. But after actually knowing these kids, I totally get it. I mean, whenever we go on missions, she freaks out and gets paranoid that something terrible will happen to them. So I can see how panicked she would get when they end up in a different time.

So really, I don't think I understood at all what our future selves were going through. But I can also understand how Red in the past would've been so hostile.

I smiled slightly and looked at Red. She was fiddling with her wedding ring. A strange habit she's picked up when she's nervous. Nobody else would notice it, as it's not obvious at all, but of course I notice these things.

She looked back at me. "What're you looking at?" she asked.

"You." I said. She smiled slightly.

"You're so hopelessly in love with me." she muttered.

"I could say the same to you." I replied.

"I'm not denying it either." she said. I kissed her lightly.

"Ewwwwwww!" Came the simultaneous shouts from the other kids. "Leave!" Scarlet said. "No kissing allowed in this room." she said. We laughed and left the room.

Once we exited, I gave her a serious look. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I mean, I just wished they hadn't seen that." she murmured. "They were really scared. No, they were terrified. They thought that I wasn't going to go back to normal."

"I know. But there's nothing we can do about it. It happened and there's no use regretting it." I said, only half believing what I was saying.

"When it's just me I can do that. I can move on and not regret it so much. But with them- I just can't Jase." she said quietly.

"I know. It'll be okay. I mean, we can't shelter them forever, as much as we want to." I said.

"I don't want them to live the kind of lives we do. I want better for them."

"I do too. And they will have better lives than us. I'll make sure of that." I said, wrapping my arms around her.

She wrapped her arms around and me as well and we stood there embracing each other for a while. After a few moments she looked at me.

"I still think they're the greatest kids in the world." She said quietly. I smiled.

"Definitely. Even if they can't be in the same room together for more than five minutes." I said. She laughed.

"I love you." she said.

"I love you too." I told her. She leaned up and kissed me. I kissed her back.

Since the kids were born we hardly ever get any alone time. I mean, I love them with everything I've got, but they get so grossed out by our PDA. Sometimes it's amusing, other times it's annoying because we don't get our down time anymore.

We continued our kissing for a while before we heard footsteps. I saw Nina quickly walking away, her face red. I laughed slightly and rested my forehead on Red's.

"I love you so much." I told her.

"I love you too." she replied, kissing me again.

"Looks like Jade is back to normal." Dianna said from behind us. We pulled apart again and looked at her exasperatedly.

"You would think that getting married would get us more alone time, not less." Red grumbled.

"Okay okay. I get it. I was just wondering if you'd seen Daniel?" she asked.

"Yeah. They're all in Scarlet's room right now." I said. She nodded and went down that hallway.

"Now, where were we?" Red asked, smirking. "Hmm. That's right." she said, attacking my lips again.


	25. Chocolate Cupcakes

**Hello friends! Here's a new chapter for ya'll. I was originally going to make this chapter about Jade and Jason but I figured the idea would fit much better with these two. So enjoy! :)**

Elliot and Dianna: Age 18 and 17

(DIANNA POV)

Today is Elliot's eighteenth birthday which means he's legally an adult as of 3:42 p.m. today.

I had given him my gift already and we were now arguing over whether or not I should eat a cupcake.

"Elliot, I don't want a cupcake. You know I don't eat processed food. On top of that it's sugary and adds unhealthy fat. And that frosting will definitely stain my clothing." I said, gesturing to my white tank top.

"Aw c'mon Di. It's a chocolate cupcake. One bite isn't going to kill you." he told me.

"Why do you insist upon me eating it? Just enjoy it for yourself." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Because Di. It's my birthday. Please?" He asked, giving me the seal pup eyes. And yes, I say seal pup eyes because they are so much cuter and more persuasive than puppy dog eyes will ever even come close to being. I glanced at him. His dark eyes were pleading with me.

And like I said, they're persuasive. "Fine. One bite." I relented.

He beamed and I rolled my eyes again. "You're ridiculous." I told him.

"I'll take that as a compliment." he said, smirking. It's currently 3:39. So he peeled off the cupcake wrapper and and I took a small bite.

The cupcakes had blue icing which I'm sure will stain my teeth. And then he did the most Elliot-like thing that he's ever done and I should've expected it too. He put frosting on my face.

"ELLIOT." I shouted, looking at him annoyed. Then I decided payback was necessary so I took the rest of the frosting off of the cupcake top and slathered it all over his face.

"Awwwww man. Eh. Two can play at that game." he said, then kissed my cheek multiple times, getting frosting all over it.

I wrinkled my nose. "This is disgusting!" I said.

He smirked. No it's not. It's frosting." he said cheekily.

I rolled my eyes at him. Why do I put up with this boy? "You're so immature." I muttered.

He smiled. "I know. And I'm a legal adult now too. Can you believe it?"

"No." Alana said, smirking from the doorway. She was leaning against it, wearing her ripped jeans and combat boots in the middle of summer. "What happened to you guys? You know what? I don't want to know."

"That's probably the wise decision." I agreed with her.

"You know you guys can't legally date anymore till Dianna turns 18 too." she informed us.

"Since when did we care about the law?" I asked wryly.

"I dunno. Uncle Steve might go all patriotism blah on us. I doubt it though. Really it's me you have to worry about." she said.

"Oh?" I asked, humoring her.

"I think she's right Di. I mean, we wouldn't want to get in trouble with the cops." Elliot said, pretending to be serious.

"Oh no. That would be terribly frightening. How would we ever survive that traumatizing experience?" I asked, playing along.

"Not my problem. Happy birthday Ellie. Your present is currently in a hiding spot. You just have to find it." Alana said, pushing off of the doorway and walking over.

She pulled a gym packet out of Elliot's pocket and unwrapped a piece.

"Why do you insist on calling me Ellie?" He asked, giving her a look. "Also, who said you could take my gum?"

"It's a term of endearment. Would you prefer 'oh dear sweet brother of mine'?" she asked. He banged his head in the table.

"Thought so." She said, smirking and popping the piece of gum in her mouth before turning on her heel and leaving.

"I love her." I said. Elliot looked at me.

"Who's your favorite sibling?" he asked.

"I don't know. A few minutes ago I would've said you, but we're not dating anymore, so I'd say her." I teased. He rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry. We'll get back together in a year." He said sarcastically.

"Are you sure? You know one direction said they were breaking up for a year but they ended up never getting back together, right?" I said.

"You mean that old boyband? They're so old. Why do you still love them?" he asked.

"They have great voices. But that's besides the point. Now we're both freshly single." I told him. "It's too bad we can't find loopholes."

He looked at me for a moment with a strange look before kissing me suddenly. When he pulled away I looked at him curiously.

"I thought us dating was against the law, no?"

"Who said anything about us dating per se?" He asked, grinning.

"See, this is why you're my favorite sibling." I said, smiling. And then we kissed again, just because we can.

When we pulled apart I looked at us. "Elliot, were completely covered in frosting." I said. "This was my favorite shirt."

"Eh. This was mine too, but now we have better memories with them. I mean, this was the shirt you got me when we were 16 but Alana had stretched the majority of my clothes at the time as a prank. And so I wore it now. And the blue definitely doesn't work with the gray." he said, imitating his sister.

"Well, you could always copy her sense of style too. Wear black, black, and maybe some burgundy." I said, trying to imagine that. Elliot's always dressed in muted colors, but not black. Usually gray or navy.

So imagining him in all black is hilarious to me. He looked at me. "I don't like her sense of style. I don't know what goes through her head when picking an outfit. One month she's obsessed with neon yellow and the next it's black. Just watch, next month it'll be both and she'll look like a bee." he said.

"Gee thanks Ellie." Alana said, walking back in and popping a bubble in her gum.

"I wasn't lying. Next month you will look like a bumblebee." He informed her.

She rolled her eyes. "Actually, I was thinking about experimenting with grays next, thank you very much." she said, still chewing her mint gum.

She started twiddling with one of her many cartilage piercings. "Are you okay?" Elliot asked her.

"Mmhmm. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked absent mindedly.

"You're playing with your earrings. So what's up?" he said. At the end of the day, regardless of all jokes and arguments they may have, Elliot is the most caring older brother ever.

She shrugged. "Eh. I'm fine. Just worried about somebody who isn't." she said, before leaving again.

"Well that was strange." Elliot said, staring at the doorway.

"Tanner maybe? Or Naomi ?" I suggested. Naomi is her best friends and Tanner is her boyfriend. And they're twins, so it could very well be both of them.

"Maybe." He said, thinking. Then he sighed. "She's probably worried about our grandpa. He's really sick." he said.

"Oh. Maybe you should go talk to her?" I suggested.

He shrugged. "I tried. She didn't want to talk."

"Hey guys? Jason and Jade had to tell us something. We're all in the common room." Sarah said, popping her head in.

We exchanged a look before walking into the common room together. When we got there, the two of them were wearing their SHIELD tactical gear and all that, and they looked a bit sad really. But those two have always been difficult to read.

"So we're leaving. Eddie asked us to be on a 4 person team. We'll keep in touch." Jade said, her voice completely void of emotion, before walking out and leaving.

"Jason? Do you guys even want to do this?" Tanner asked. He shrugged.

"We don't have a choice." he said nonchalantly, before walking out as well. Elliot and I shared a look before everyone looked at us.

"Um. Why are you two covered in frosting?" Johnny asked.

"It's Elliot's fault." I said immediately, glaring at him.

"What? Noooo." he said sarcastically. "Me? Do I look like I could ever be responsible for such a terrible thing?"

"Yes." everyone responded, dead serious, and I started laughing. He gave me a fake hurt look.

"Wow Di. I feel betrayed." he said, falling back onto the couch theatrically.

I looked at him. "You should have known I would break your heart." I said, continuing this charade.

"I know. I was stupid to think that you would stay with me after everything that I've done for you."

"You mean getting frosting on my favorite shirt?" I deadpanned.

"You got it all over my face." He replied.

"And then _you_ got it all over _my_ face." I told him.

"You started it." he said.

"How so? You forced me to eat that wretched cupcake." I retorted.

"It's just a cupcake Di." he said, his lip twitching.

"I could go on and on and on about the horrors of that processes junk! Not only will it stain teeth and clothes, it's also terrible for your digestive system and can result in gaining weight and a lower metabolism. In addition, your feces-"

"NOPE! I don't need to know about my fecal matter!"

"Elliot! You know what fecal matter is? I think I'm rubbing off on you a little." I said joyfully.

"Oh great." he muttered sarcastically. We all laughed once again.


	26. Girl's Night

**GIRL'S NIGHT CHAPTER. Finally! I've been waiting for forever to write this one! It takes place after Jade and Jason come back because of her pregnancy. This turned out wayyyyy longer than expected. So without further ado, here y'all go. Enjoy! :)**

The Girls of Stark Tower: Age 18-19

(ALANA POV)

I'm so excited for this. We haven't had a girl's night in a whole year. Juliana and Nat aren't coming this time though. They both claimed to be tired, but personally I think Juliana doesn't want to be mentally scarred and Nat thinks we're immature.

We're meeting in Jade's room and the guys are going to do whatever it is they do when we're busy. They don't have lives.

We're going to stay up all night and drink. Not that kind of drinking. We're too young for that. Coffee. So we can stay up very late, and caffeine works almost as well as alcohol in getting a person to spill secrets, except without the vomit.

I smirked and walked into Jade's room where everyone else was already. "Okay. Let's get started. Firstly, Jade, you could have told us when you found out you were pregnant." I told her. She rolled her eyes.

"Di would've made me come back immediately. And I couldn't just tell everyone but her." she said. "No offense or anything."

"None taken. You're right. I would've" Dianna replied.

"Although, if you had told me that, it would've been a little hypocritical of you." Jade said, smirking.

Dianna shrugged. "I don't know what you mean by that." she said.

"Oh yes you do. Thoughts don't lie. And besides, I'm surprised everyone else hasn't noticed yet."

Then it clicked. Daniel, my nephew, is only a month younger than the triplets. That means- "YOU'RE PREGNANT?!" Sarah exclaimed, having come to the same conclusion at me.

"No! That's rubbish." she said.

"Aw! I'm so happy for you!" Rosa said, hugging her.

Dianna sighed. "Okay, maybe I'm a little pregnant." she said, sighing.

"You're five months along." Jade deadpanned. Dianna rolled her eyes.

"I'm not showing. So it's fine." she said.

"Does Elliot know?" I asked, grinning. I'd love to see how he's react to that. He'd probably faint.

"Um . . . no?" Dianna said. Our jaws dropped.

"How did you manage that?" Naomi asked skeptically.

"Yeah, you're a terrible liar." Sarah said.

"And Elliot's not that oblivious. I mean, he must've noticed you gaining weight." Rosa said.

"I may have been avoiding him for the past month." she said sheepishly. I laughed and everyone looked at me.

"Serves him right. Getting my friend pregnant. But on the bright side, I get a nephew!" I said, grinning.

"You're crazy." Jade told me. I grinned.

"Thank you." I said. She shook her head.

"But again, how'd you manage that?" Naomi asked.

"Well, I haven't been avoiding him entirely. We just haven't- you know- in a while." she said, blushing. "I plan on telling him soon. I can't hide it forever." she said.

"You might want to get on that. And maybe tell your parents." Jade said dryly. Then she groaned suddenly.

"Are you okay?" Rosa asked her. She nodded.

"They don't stop moving." she muttered, gesturing down at her stomach. "It's always one of them. Also, they have thoughts. Do you even understand what their thoughts are like? It's annoying. I now have five other people's thoughts constantly in my head on top of my own." she vented.

"What do they even think about? They're just sitting there." Sarah asked.

"They're processing my smell. Also, they apparently like the sound of my voice. And Steven is so pushy. Scarlet kicks really fast and is trying to break the amniotic sack at the moment. Josh is playing with the amniotic fluids. Steven just disappears and reappears, which is really uncomfortable." she complained.

"They have powers already?" I asked. She nodded.

"We were kind of exposed to more terrigen gas while on a mission before I even realized I was pregnant and this happened." she said.

"Well that sucks." I said. "Now back to the important stuff. Rosa, did anything interesting happen while you were in England?"

"Um . . . not really." she lied.

"There was a boy wasn't there?"

"Apollo? I ship it." Jade said, nodding in approval.

"Who's Apollo?" Naomi asked.

"Son of Thor." The two of them said in unison.

"HE HAS A SON?!" I asked.

"And a daughter. Artemis, she's your age." Rosa said. I shook my head in disbelief.

"What does he look like?" I asked her.

"Well, he has blond hair and blue eyes. Artemis does too." she said.

"Details." I said seriously. She sighed.

"Tall, built, he's basically a younger version of his dad with short hair." she said. We nodded.

"You guys want to know what Tanner did the other day?" I asked.

"NO. I don't." Naomi said.

"Yes you do. Blackmail material. Duh." I said. She smirked.

"Okay, go on."

I whispered it to everyone and they all went red. "ALANA." Jade protested.

"What? Also, Jade, you told me I could take you bra shopping. We haven't done that yet." I told her.

"We can go soon. But I'm not going to buy any nice ones." she said.

"Why not?" I asked, giving her a scandalized look.

"I'm like, 3 sizes bigger than I normally am." she told me, rolling her eyes.

"So? You know what size you normally are, buy them in that size." I told her. She sighed.

"Sure." she said.

"Okay. What's up with you?" Sarah demanded. "You've been acting all sad and irritated." she said.

"I'm tired. I only agreed to come to this because I wanted to hang out with everyone." she said. Looking at her, she does look very tired.

"Go to sleep. We could do this another time." Rosa said.

"Nah. It's fine. I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. Let's just keep going."

"Want some coffee?" I asked.

"She can't. It's not good for the baby." Dianna said.

"Babies. Di, babies." Jade corrected, groaning.

We laughed and continued our conversations.

"So yeah. That's why my piercings are silver instead of gold." I said. "Jade already knows. We embarrassed Jason together." I said cheerfully.

She grinned. "Oh you have no idea what I've been doing to him lately." Jade said.

"What do you mean?" Rosa asked her.

"He got me pregnant. So this is payback." she said.

"WHAT is payback?" Dianna asked exasperatedly.

"Oh, right. I've been embarrassing him and teasing him nonstop. Serves him right." she said.

"Jade, you know it wasn't entirely his fault right?" Naomi asked her. She shrugged.

"I don't care." she said stubbornly. We laughed.

"Poor Jason. Any of you been torturing your boyfriends lately?" I asked excitedly.

"You're wayyyyy to excited about that. Sometimes I worry for Tanner's safety." Naomi muttered.

"Awwwww you do care about him. It's really cute. He cares about you too, just so you know." I told her. She glared at me.

"I do not _care_ about Tanner. He's my brother. If he dies or gets seriously hurt, I'm obligated to feel sympathy. I don't _do_ sympathy." she said.

"Uhuh. Suuurrrreee you don't." Jade said, smirking.

"And anyway, you're nobody to talk. You and Elliot are practically best friends." Naomi pointed out.

I snorted at that. "Yeah. Okay. He's overprotective and annoying. And he's _Elliot._ You can't think that I enjoy his company at all." I said indignantly, although secretly I admit they're right.

"I totally understand. Matthew can be so irritating at times. When I got my first boyfriend he went off on me. Of course, he was right, but that doesn't make it any less irritating." Rosa said.

"When I kissed Tanner for the first time, I think Elliot gave him a death threat." I said, smiling.

"But you kissed him. Not the other way around." Sarah pointed out.

"He'd had a crush on me for a little over a year before that. He didn't know I knew though. And i kind of liked him back. Don't tell him though. And back on topic, older siblings are annoying. But you can't hate them." I said.

"Hey! As an older sibling, I resent that statement." Jade said.

"Well, you're not like them." I protested.

"No. She really is. She beat up Johnny because Juliana and Jack kissed for the first time while they were spying." Sarah said. We all looked at Jade.

"You make it sound like he was defenseless. He was fighting back you know. I'm just superior in general, so of course it would seem like I had beaten him up." she said, shrugging.

We laughed. "I would be willing to bet that Jade is the most overprotective older sibling in the tower." Rosa said.

"I am." she said bluntly.

"Wow. No arguments there." Naomi said, smirking.

"Well I'm going to give examples anyway." Sarah said.

"One time, we went to visit Johnny's grandparents, because they needed to approve their grandsons' girlfriends. They're really cute. Anyway, I love them, Juliana loves them, but Jade pretty much interrogated her when we got back." she said, smiling.

"Oh! That reminds me. I had something for us to do." I said, smirking.

"I wonder what it is?" Sarah said dryly.

I beamed at her. "TRUTH OR DARE!" I said excitedly.

"How did that story remind you of truth or dare?" Rosa asked.

"Duh. Truth or drae is essentially an interrogation." I replied. Jade groaned.

"Fine fine. Only because it's tradition." she muttered.

"Yay! I'll go first. Dianna? You haven't said anything in a while. Truth or dare?"

"Oh um. Truth." she said, looking at me warily.

"Who were you texting just now and read us the text." I said. She went red. I did it for exactly this reason. Mostly because I get blackmail material on my older brother, which never happens.

"Well obviously it was Elliot. And the other question is invalid because it's one question per turn." she said, dodging the question.

"Oh don't be like that." Rosa said from next to her.

"Yeah. C'mon." Jade encouraged her. "Or I could tell them, if it's too embarrassing for you to." she offered helpfully.

"Thanks Jade, but I'm good." she said hastily. We all met eyes and nodded, and I got up and was about to tackle her when she got up and bolted. I chased after her and she ran into the common room, where all the guys happened to be hanging out.

"What are you- you know what, I don't want to know." Robert said, shaking his head.

"Good choice." I replied, chasing her around the room. She's gotten faster. I was about to catch up with her when she handed the phone to Elliot.

"Do not let her get that phone or your phone or I'm breaking up with you." she said hastily, out of breath.

I smirked. "Oh Dianna. You should've given it to anybody else really. This is my _brother._ " I said. He was holding the phone high up, seeing as he's much taller than me. So I just tickled him in the ticklish spot that he and dad share, mom showed it to me, and he doubled over laughing. I grabbed the phone. "I know all his weaknesses." I said smugly. Then Dianna smirked back at me.

"Yes, but he also knows yours." She said, and just then Elliot came behind me and tickled me back.

"Crap." I muttered, handing the phones to Tanner.

"Hold on to those for me. I have to get revenge." I said.

"Oh god." he muttered, as Naomi ran in.

"Tanner Stark. If you don't give me those phones I'll tell dad about the pressurized motor you stole." she said. I grinned. Blackmail. Genius.

"If you tell, then I'll tell. I'll tell mom about her heels that you snapped in half."

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

"But she would ground me for so much longer than dad would ground you." she said.

"Too bad." he replied. Ah, that's my boyfriend. Wait a minute. Duh. I stopped fighting with Elliot to look back at my boyfriend.

"Tanner, she's trustworthy." I said. He rolled his eyes and handed his twin the phones.

"You make it sound like this is some kind of life threatening escapade." Jade said, walking in.

"It is." I said, but then Dianna grabbed the phones from Naomi.

"Mims! How could you?" I asked, putting my hand on my heart.

"All's fair in love and war." she said, smirking at me.

"What. Who are you in love with?" I asked confused.

"Was, my dear Alana, _was._ " she said, blowing me a kiss. I rolled my eyes. All the guys had decided to ignore us at this point.

"I think they've had too much coffee." I heard Jason say.

"Oh definitely. But Jade hasn't had any. Or at least she better not have had any." Robert said.

"I didn't. You guys realize there's a much simpler solution to this right?" Jade said.

I glanced at her as I chased Dianna. She telekinetically pulled the phones out of Dianna's hands and into her own.

"Now, let's see." she read them and her eyes widened. "Dang." was all she said.

"What?" I asked, coming over.

"I'm going to take pity on Dianna and not show you this one." she said.

"So you're a traitor too?!" I asked. I fell on my knees overdramatically. "My only love, sprung from my only hate!" I said.

"What?" Tanner asked me. I looked back at him.

"Romeo and Juliet." I said. He shook his head.

"Why all the Shakespeare references?" Elliot asked, leaning against the wall.

"Why not, is truly the question. Well, I digress. To be or not to be, indeed that is the question." Naomi said.

"Great Elliot." Johnny muttered. "Now they're going to go on like this forever."

"Anyway, where's Sarah and Rosa?" I asked. They had been here earlier but they had disappeared.

"We're here. We're just exhausted." Sarah said, walking in with Rosa.

"Aww you guys are no fun." Jade said. "I'm tired too, but deal with it. We haven't done this in forever." she said.

"I've just had a brilliant notion." Naomi said.

"Pray tell." I replied.

"Let us go and disturb the young children's slumber." she said, continuing our Shakespeare talk.

"Translation anyone?" Matthew asked.

"We're going to go prank Jack and Juliana." Tanner said, smirking.

"Guys?" I heard Nat say. She walked in the room and squinted because of the lights. "Stop being so noisy. There are two babies in the tower now." she informed us.

"Sorry Nat." Jade said.

"Oh don't get me started on you two. Do you know how hard it is, trying to get any sleep in the room next to you guys?" she asked.

"What are you two doing so late at night?" Sarah asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh don't be so dirty minded. They're talking. We need to get soundproof walls. Good night. Or should I say good morning." she said irritably, going back to her room.

We looked at each other. "Well. She seemed happy with us." I said, smiling.

"Yeah. Definitely too much caffeine." Elliot muttered.

"Aw Ellie is just jealous that his friends aren't as cool as mine." I teased him.

"As if. My friends are just not as- mentally disturbed as yours are."

"Hey!" Dianna protested.

"Not you. You're the sane one. And Rosa. She's not insane either. But the rest of you? CRAZY." he said.

"Please. If anything you guys are just boring." Jade said.

"No. We understand that it's around three in the morning and we don't want to disturb anybody else." Robert said.

"Exactly. Boring." Sarah said, examining her nails.

"C'mon Sarah. You have to make a better argument than that." Johnny teased her.

"Fine. Your idea of fun must be to sit around on the couches and play FIFA. Also, we gave a full night free from us and you don't talk to each other?" she asked.

"Well what would you rather have us do?" Jason asked dryly.

"Help us prank Juliana and Jack." Jade said mischievously.

"Why? Just leave them be." Matthew said.

"Now why would we do that?" Rosa asked.

"Great. You guys have tainted her too." Matthew groaned.

"We didn't do anything." Dianna said. "She's always been like this."

"Also, wouldn't you expect Captain America's daughter to be kindhearted?" Robert asked.

"Have you met my mom?" Jade responded. "They balance each other out. Except I got more from my mom and Ana got more from my dad. So she's a goodie-two-shoes, and I'm . . . Not." She said, smirking.

"Well I'm in. I don't care if you guys want to keep being boring." Tanner said.

"Tanner! You traitor." Elliot said.

"Like I said, brother dear, all's fair in love and war." I said, kissing Tanner lightly.

"I'm in also. Pranking my little brother? How could I pass up that opportunity?" Johnny asked.

Sarah smirked at him. "See? I knew you had it in you."

"I'll do it too. These guys all suck at FIFA anyway." Jason said.

We laughed. "Well, I might as well." Matthew acquisized.

"Well Ellie? You're all outnumbered now." I said, smirking.

"Ugh. Fine. But if mom gets mad at me for this one-"

"I'll take the blame. But you better not hug me this time." I cut him off.

He smirked. "I'll make no promises." But he got up and we proceeded to plan it out.

"Jade, where are they?" I asked.

"Jack's room, watching Netflix." she said.

"Okay. Jack's room has five vents, but the biggest one is through his closet." Johnny informed us.

We all raised an eyebrow at him. "And you know this how?" Sarah asked him. He shrugged.

"What kind of older brother would I be if I didn't know the best way to sneak into my little brother's room?" He responded.

"Good point." Jade said. "I know _all_ the details of Juliana's room." she said, smirking.

"You guys are so stalker-ish." Matthew muttered.

"GUYS. Back on topic." Naomi said, calling up back to the plan.

"So. Here's what we're going to do." Tanner said,

"Also, just as a warning Johnny, if they're doing anything _but_ netflixing, adding _any_ chill, well, I can't be held responsible for my actions." Jade said, smirking.

"Yeah, okay. Just- don't embarrass them too much." Jason said.

"Who, me?" she asked innocently. I laughed.

Naomi and Tanner somehow conjured up some arrows that were filled with paint but would burst on impact. So like paintballs except arrows and less painful.

Then she made some bullets like that too. She handed everyone their 'weapons' and we continued. She made some caps for my throwing stars and handed them to me as well. Those two are like a machine, so in sync. It's cute. I have to remember to tease Tanner about it later.

We went through the vents, except Dianna refused to let Jade go too. "God. Being pregnant is so annoying. " she muttered.

"I know right. But look on the bright side, I can't go either."

"Wait what? Why can't you go?" Elliot asked suspiciously, confused. Dianna's eyes widened and she blushed slightly. I decided to help her out.

"It doesn't matter Ellie, just go." I said. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"So you know what she's talking about?" he questioned.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said, just to confuse him.

"What?" he asked.

"What?" I asked back.

"Whatever. Di . . . are you . . ." he asked.

"Am I what?" she responded nervously.

" . . . pregnant?" he finished. She shrugged.

"Maybe." she responded.

"You suck at lying." he said. "And why wouldn't you tell me in the first place?"

"Um . . . I don't know?"

"You were nervous. Well, it doesn't really matter. I kind of knew anyway, but I didn't want to ask because if you weren't, that would be really awkward." he said, shrugging.

"I would've slapped you." I informed him. He rolled his eyes.

"I know." he replied.

"Oh the sibling rivalries. You two love each other so much." Naomi said, smirking.

"DO NOT." we both protested.

"Oh yes you do. It's so strange. Johnny and Jack never deny actually caring about each other, nor do Jade and Juliana." Rosa said.

"Well, Johnny and I are more like older sibling figures to them, whereas Naomi and Tanner are twins and Alana and Elliot both have . . . strong personalities." Jade explained.

"I know. Aren't I just fabulous?" I asked, flipping my blue hair.

"I think you've had a little more than too much coffee." Tanner told me.

"I know." I replied, smiling. He laughed.

"You're crazy." he said affectionately. I kissed him.

"You two are straight out a romance novel or something." Sarah said, grinning.

"No. That's Jade and Jason." Johnny disagreed.

"Oh my god. YES." I said. The couple in question rolled their eyes.

"Anyway. Let's get going." Rosa said impatiently.

We crawled through the vents, all of us going in through different entrances. We all looked at them. They were sitting on the bed, cuddling, and watching Netflix on one of their phones. Their heads were pressed close together as they were sharing earbuds.

"Aw they're cute." Sarah whispered from behind me.

"Aren't they?" Naomi agreed from next to me.

"Did you hear something?" Jack asked Juliana.

She looked at him and shrugged. "It was probably my sister and her friends. They're in the vents right now, watching us. They plan on pranking us." she informed him.

"How did she know?"

 _Super soldier hearing. Duh._ We heard Jade tell us telepathically. Then suddenly Jade walked in the room.

"Are you in on this too?" Juliana asked her.

"I wanted to be, but apparently I can't because I'm pregnant." she said nonchalantly.

"Oh. Can you make them go away?" she asked her older sister.

"Nope. What are you watching?" Jade asked.

"Walking dead. Obviously." she replied. Jade smirked.

"Nice. What episode?"

"We're watching reruns." Juliana replied. "Also, you can totally make them go. Just use the 'I'm your older sister and you will do as I say' voice and they'll do anything." she said nonchalantly.

"Okayyyyy. I do not have a 'I'm your older sister and you will do as I say voice'. And besides, I'm not their older sister." Jade responded. "What's up with you anyway?"

"Nothing! Everything's fine! Now can everyone _leave._ " Juliana said, frustrated.

"Oh whatever. You need to lighten up." Jade said. And that's cue for the white paint squad. They shot at them quickly when they weren't expecting.

"Johnny!" Jack protested, but then he picked up the arrow off of his bed and started examining it. "This is a really nice arrow. Where'd you get it?" he asked. Juliana elbowed him lightly.

"Not now Jack." she said, rolling her eyes at her sister.

"Hey, it could have hurt. We didn't use real paintballs. That could have left some nasty purple bruises." Cue the purple shooters.

"I hate you all." Jack said.

"Love you too." Johnny replied, all of the people who already shot standing up in the room.

"Love. Do you guys think red or pink is more appropriate for love?" Jade asked. And that's our cue. We kicked opened the cent and shot them quickly.

"I hate you all. I'm going to go take a shower now." Juliana said, leaving the room. "Also, this better wash off! This is my favorite pajama shirt!" she called. We laughed.

"It's washable." I called after her.

"Out." Jack said.

"Okay. Fine." Sarah said, still laughing.

We walked out and I noticed that Dianna and Elliot weren't with us.

I looked around and saw them talking to each other in the kitchen. I decided to leave them be.

I walked into the common room where our parents were all standing, looking sleep deprived.

"What were you guys doing at 6:00 AM?" Uncle Tony asked.

"Pranking." Naomi responded.

Uncle Tony grinned. "Nice." he said.

"Tony. Not nice." Aunt Pepper said.

"Right. Did you guys sleep at all?" he asked.

"Um, no?" Tanner said sheepishly.

"Really? Where's Elliot and Dianna?" my mom asked.

"In the kitchen. They're talking about something." I said. She looked at me.

"She finally decided to tell him?" she asked.

I'm not even surprised she knows already. "Yeah. She did. Well, he found out earlier, but they didn't get a chance to talk about it."

"Wow. How'd he respond to that?" Uncle Bruce asked.

"He kind of already knew. But obviously that's not just something you ask." Robert responded.

"I'm surprised he knew that asking that is rude." I muttered.

"I heard that Lana." he said, walking back in.

"I know." I responded.

"Elliot-" my mom started. I love this. I'm clearly her favorite. Dad says he doesn't have favorites, but really he likes Elliot better. And I'm okay with that.  
"Mom, he didn't want to do anything. He wanted to be boring." I cut in.

"Aw. You do care." Elliot teased.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "I keep my promises." I responded.

"Uhuh, sure. Whatever you say." he said, smirking.

I backed away from him. "Hey! I had conditions! You can't hug me." I said, putting my hands up defensively.

Our parents were staring at us. "How did they end up like this?" I heard my mom mutter to my dad.

"I never agreed to those conditions." he said. I took off running and he ran after me.

"Kids." I heard Uncle Steve mutter. Elliot quickly caught up to me- he has longer legs- and hugged me tightly. I squirmed.

"Ewwww. Oh my god. I'm suffocating! ELLIE IS KILLING ME." I shouted. He laughed and let go.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked. I gagged.

"I have to go take twenty showers now. I'll be down for dinner." I joked. He grinned. "Also, I will not hesitate to punch you next time."

Juliana and Jack came downstairs, their hair still wet, and little spots of color still visible on them.

"What happened to you two?" Aunt Laura asked.

" _They_ happened." Jack said, glaring at us. "Look, I'm pink!" he lifted up his shirt, and he was indeed pink and purple.

"How did it get there?" I asked, laughing.

"I don't even know." he muttered.

"Eh. It's okay. It could be worse. We could be green." Juliana said, ever the optimist.

"Uhuh. I"m still PINK." he said. We were all laughing at them now.


	27. Tomato Soup

**Hello! This is going to be a chapter where Dianna gets sick. I just had the idea for this as I was trying to fall asleep last night. Also, this takes place at the same time that The Romance of Jadason is taking place right now, so if you're following that story too, then this takes place right then. Enjoy! :)**

Dianna and Elliot: Age 18 and 19

(ELLIOT POV)

I woke up next to Di. How she ended up here, I have absolutely no clue, but she felt really warm. She was tossing and turning and her face was flushed. I woke her up gently and she looked at me. Her eyes were bloodshot.

"I feel terrible." she said, her voice sounding dry.

"'You're really hot." I said. She looked at me blankly. "Temperature." I elaborated. She nodded.

"I know. I can feel it. Here, go into the kitchen and on the third to left cabinet there should be some tylenol. Grab me some of that." she instructed.

"Okay Dr. Fitzsimmons." I said, using her professional name. She cracked a smile and I went to go grab the medicine. I opened the cabinet only to find that none of the bottles have labels on them. I glanced over at the table and Robert was there. Thank god.

"Hey Robert? Which one's tylenol?" I asked him. He laughed and grabbed one.

"Here. Why do you need it?" he asked.

"Di is sick." I replied. He looked at me. "Well, I hope she gets better soon. I'll ask my mom to come look at her." he said.

"Thanks." I said, grabbing a glass of water for her too and going back upstairs.

She honestly looks terrible. I handed her the pill and the glass of water and she literally chugged the entire glass.

I raised my eyebrows at her. "What? I was thirsty." she said, her voice sounding a lot better, still a little scratchy though. I laughed.

She sat up, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "I think I have a fever." she said.

"Wow. The doctor got sick." I said, smirking.

She stuck her tongue out at me. "Oh hush." she said. I sat next to her and she scooted away.

"I don't want to get you sick too." she said.

"Eh. I don't really care if I get sick. Also, when did you come here?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. So I came here. It was almost subconscious really." she said.

I smirked at her. "It was subconscious?" I asked her. She rolled her eyes and shoved me lightly.

"Don't get a big head." she said. I laughed. "I'm surprised you know what subconscious means anyway." she said.

"Hey! I'm not stupid." I told her. She raised her eyebrows at me. "Wow Di. That's just harsh." I said, feigning offense. She laughed but then started coughing.

"Agh. Stop making me laugh." she said. I feel so bad for her. Being sick sucks.

"Do you want to eat something?" I asked her.

"I should be drinking plenty of fluids and eating foods rich in antioxidants, but I have no appetite." she groaned.

"I'm sorry, but Doctor's orders. As soon as I figure out what antioxidants are I'm going to find you some food that has a lot of them." I said. She laughed but then ended up coughing again.

"I told you not to make me laugh." she said, but she was smiling. She brushed a piece of orange hair that had fallen in her face behind her ear. "Long hair is so frustrating." she muttered. She does have really long hair. It goes past her waist.

"You hae a hair tie on your wrist." I pointed out. She glanced down.

"You're right. I forgot about that." she murmured, pulling her hair back without using a mirror. It was perfectly smooth all around, no weird lumps of hair sticking out, nothing. How girls manage to that, without a comb and without a mirror, I will never know.

"How do you do that?" I asked. She looked at me confused. "Put your hair in a ponytail like that?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I don't know. I've been doing it since I was little. I don't think about it." she said.

"So it's subconscious." I said. She smirked.

"Aw. You're expanding your vocabulary!" she said. I nudged her shoulder.

"I think you and Lana are the reason I have low self esteem." I said, pouting.

She laughed again, and again started coughing. "Firstly, don't make me laugh! Secondly, you have anything but low self esteem." she said.

"True, true." I said. I pulled out my phone and searched up what in the world antioxidants are.

Apparently chocolate ice cream has more antioxidants than grapefruit. Who knew? Also, Blueberries have a lot of them as well. So, I'll get her a berry smoothie and I'll make her soup. Soup is what you make for sick people right? My mom used to make me tomato soup when I got sick. I hated chicken noodle and Di is a vegetarian, so I'll make tomato.

"How does soup sound?" I asked. She looked at me skeptically.

"Who's making it?" she asked.

"Me, although I'll probably end up asking somebody, most like Lana, to help me out." I said.

"Okay. You should know, I'm very particular about my soup." she said. "But you're not terrible at cooking, and Alana is actually rather good at it, so I'll give you a chance."

I grinned. "Okay. I'm going to go attempt to make soup." I said, getting up.

"I'll be down in a minute. I'm going to wash up and such. I look terrible. And I can tell by your face that you agree." she said, standing up.

"Nah. You don't look terrible. You just look sick." I said. She gave me a look and I smiled back at her, then left.

I walked into the kitchen again and thankfully saw my mom eating breakfast. "Hey mom? Can I use that tomato soup recipe?" I asked. She looked at me skeptically.

"You're going to cook?" She asked.

"Yes. Don't look so surprised." I said offended.

"Whatever. I don't know where you two got your personalities from, because your dad is normal and I'm not insane." she muttered.

"Are you calling me crazy? I'm not that crazy. I didn't go off and get a belly button piercing." I said.

"Alana has a belly button piercing?" My mom asked. Crap. She'll be in so much trouble if mom finds out about that.

"No. It was just an example. Jeez. I'm pretty sure she's not that crazy." I lied.

"Elliot, are you lying to me?" she asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Please. I know better than that by now." I said. "Remember that time when I crashed the car and lied to you about it? You literally locked me in my room for a month." I said, distracting her. I saw Alana walk by the door and make eye contact with me, acknowledging how awesome of an older brother I am.

"Anyway. Here's the soup recipe." she said, handing me a paper copy. I read it. Doesn't seem too hard. I have to dice the tomatoes.

What does dice mean? I sighed and saw Tanner walking by. "Hey Tanner?" I asked. He walked in and looked at the paper.

"Soup?" he asked.

"Di isn't feeling well." I explained. He nodded.

"I might as well help you out. I've got nothing better to do. But what does dice mean?" He asked.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." I said. I saw Fobert walking by and called him in as well. "Do you know what dicing is?" I asked.

"Why would I?"

"Because you're smart?" I said.

"Tanner's smart too. But no, I have no clue." he said.

"Hey! Johnny!" Tanner called. Johnny walked in and looked at us.

"What's up?" he asked.

"We're trying to figure out what dicing is." I said. He rolled his eyes.

"Don't ask me for help with cooking. I'll burn down the whole place without touching the oven or stove. It's happened before." he said. We looked at him skeptically.

"I knew you were a bad cook, but man, that's just sad." I told him.

"I'll tell you guys some other time. But for now, let's try and figure this out. It can't be that hard can it?" Johnny said.

Just then Di walked into the kitchen, wearing fleece pajama pants and one of my sweatshirts, the hood pulled over her head. It was way too big on her, and she was coughing. I raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged.

"Yours are more comfortable than mine are. Anyway, move aside. I'll translate. And honestly Elliot, you could have asked any of the girls for help. You have a sister you know." she told me, shaking her head lightly, and sitting on a chair. I shrugged.

"I'm incompetent. Sorry." I said. She smirked.

"To dice is to finely chop." she told us. We all simultaneously smacked our foreheads.

"Okay." I said. She smirked.

"Do you need me to point out the tomatoes too?" she asked.

"We're not that stupid." Robert muttered. We managed to successfully make the soup, except it wasn't red. It was brown. Us four guys, none of whom can cook, managed to make soup. And there was enough for all of us. Including the other girls. We called them in and they took one look at the soup.

"Well it looks interesting, but it smells heavenly." Naomi said.

"Does it really? I can't smell a thing." Di commented.

"Why are you wearing my brother's sweater?" Alana asked her.

"How do you know it's his?" she asked.

"One, I bought it for him for his birthday. Two, it's like, five billion sizes too big on you." Alana replied.

"Eh. Doesn't matter. I think I'm going to steal your sweaters more often. This is the comfiest sweater I've ever worn in my life." she said to me.

I just smiled. There is no way I'm arguing with either of them about this. "Yo. Lovebirds. Snap out of it." Naomi said, giving Dianna some soup.

"Ha. We're not the lovebirds Naomi. Should I tell everyone what I saw when I walked in the lab yesterday morning?" Dianna responded.

Naomi and Robert both blanched. "Um. No. Try the soup." Robert said quickly. Di just smirked and tried some.

"This is actually delicious!" she said, sounding surprised.

"What do you mean, actually?" Tanner asked.

"Oh please, you four attempting to cook anything? How could we not be shocked that it turned out okay?" Alana asked.

"I'm not that bad of a cook." Tanner argued.

"No. You're not. You can make toast without burning it." Sarah responded, looking pointedly at Johnny.

"This is why I have JARVIS make me breakfast." He responded.

"Elliot's not that terrible of a cook. I mean, he can make a great hamburger." Di said, her soup already finished.

"I'm still not over that. How can you refuse to eat a cupcake but be in love with burgers?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"I'm flexible." She said, getting up and putting her bowl in the sink. "I'm exhausted. Watching a bunch of boys try not to burn down the tower is so tiring. I'm going to sleep." she said, leaving.

"By the way, you owe me one." I told Alana.

"I know. Thanks for that. Although, it's your fault she almost found out anyway." she pointed out.

"I know. You have to admit, I'm a great older brother." I said.

She laughed. "No. You didn't want her to know because if I found out you told her I would tell her about-" I gave her a look and she abruptly stopped talking, but she was still smirking. "I don't understand why they have such a problem with having a belly button piercing." she muttered.

"You have a what?" Naomi asked, stunned.

"I thought you would've told your friends at least." I said.

"Were you aware of this?" Naomi asked Tanner.

"Of course he was aware of it." Sarah said, smirking.

"Obviously. Jeez Mims. He was the second person to see it." Alana said, and Tanner looked like he wanted to go hide.

"I apologize for my sister." I told him. He laughed.

"No. It's my sister. Not yours." he said. Aw. He's a good boyfriend. I almost regret giving him a death threat when they first started dating. Almost.

"Who was the first person to see it?" Sarah asked.

"My snoopy brother. Who else? So basically, I came home after getting it done, and he happened to be in the kitchen and saw me. So then, being him, he had to interrogate me. I didn't want to say it out loud because security cameras, so I just showed him." she explained.

"Wow. Okay. So how many piercings do you have now?" Naomi asked.

"Can they not?" Johnny asked.

"I'm sorry Johnny. It's in their genes apparently. They must talk about this." Robert said.

"I have, let's see, 4 on one ear, 5 on the other, belly button piercing, and a nose piercing, so eleven." she said.

"Wow. Eleven piercings and purple hair. I'm surprised your parents haven't sent you off to boarding school yet." Johnny muttered.

"Me too." Tanner, Alana, and myself replied.

Alana looked at the two of us. I know that look. I should probably go run and hide now.

"Do you want me to go off to boarding school?" she asked.

"No." "Maybe." Tanner and I answered at the same time. I'm sure you can guess who answered what.

Suddenly she looked down at her phone, her expression turning grim.

"What is it? Did they actually decide to send you to boarding school?" I joked.

"Jade and Jason aren't coming back." she said quietly.

"What? Why?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I don't know. All she said was that they're not coming back for a while. They have more missions to take care of, they're fine, and that they probably won't be able to call for a while either." she said.

"None of us can honestly say we weren't expecting this." Robert muttered.

"Yeah. I just wish it didn't." Naomi said.

"Something bad happened. That's why they're not coming home." Sarah said.

"How can you know that?" Tanner asked.

"It's a gut feeling. And my gut is always right." she said, pulling out her phone.

"Jade?" she said, putting it on speaker.

"Hey Sarah." she said.

"Why aren't you coming back?" she demanded.

"There's a reason I texted Alana through an untraceable number." she replied, but she didn't sound nearly as confident as she usually does.

"Well does it sound like I care? You guys can't just leave us again. You were just shot. Do you not care about your safety anymore?" Sarah asked her.

"Do you want the truth?"

"That would be nice, yes."

"I don't care. I'm done. And anyway, I'm fine now." she said. And I think that's the scary part. How can she say that? She doesn't care about her own safety?

"Where's Jason? Is he okay?" I asked. Normally he would've said something at this point.

"He's- fine. He's still asleep." She said, but everybody heard her hesitation.

"Do your parents know about this?" Naomi asked her.

"No. They don't. Also, please don't trace this call. We're not going to do anything totally crazy. By our standards anyway." she said.

"But Jade, you can't just say that. Where are you guys? Are you somewhere safe?" Alana asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry. We have the bus 2.0 with us." she said.

"Pfft. Like we're not going to worry." Robert muttered again.

"I know okay. I wish I didn't have to to do this. But I do. So goodbye. I'll see you all some other time." she said, and then she hung up.

We looked at each other making a silent pact. We're not going to trace that call or that text. We're going to let them live their lives. If they want to come back to us, they will, but for now, we can't do anything about it.

I walked back upstairs and entered my room, but when I got there I saw Di curled up on my bed, wearing my sweater, and fast asleep. I smiled.


	28. Babies and Asthma Treatments

**Hi guys! I have a lot of new chapters for this series coming up today! Enjoy these! This takes place when Daniel is about 3 months old.**

Dianna and Elliot: Age 19 and 21

(DIANNA POV)

Elliot went on a mission with Alana and I haven't heard from him in a week. He's supposed to be back today though.

They went to go retrieve something from somewhere. I don't know what.

I sighed and went back to my work. I was trying to figure something out and I've been working on it for at least a month. It's so frustrating. Robert went with them so he can't even help me figure it out, and this isn't Naomi and Tanner's expertise. On top of that, I didn't sleep last night because of Daniel and I've been running solely on coffee.

Speaking of, here he comes. "He needs a diaper change." Sarah told me, handing me my child. I took him from her and smiled at him. He looks almost exactly like Elliot except he has my eyes. And his hair is slightly lighter. Although that'll probably change as he gets older. I don't want him to get older, despite all the work it is. I have to wake up multiple times on the night, and usually I breastfeed him, as it's healthier for him, and I rarely get any sleep.

"Thanks." I said, and she smiled and left. I changed his diaper and then he started crying. I hate it when he cries.

"Daniel, why are you crying?" I asked him. He didn't respond- he's only 3 months old- , but he did stop crying. I thought, he's either tired or hungry, or both.

"Are you hungry?" I asked him. He looked at me again, his eyes tearing up, and I sighed, grabbing his formula from the fridge in the lab. I held him in my arms and fed him that until he fell asleep. I went upstairs and was about to put him down in his crib when I changed my mind. I sat down on a chair in the room and held him in my arms, falling asleep myself.

(LATER)

When I woke up, I was still in the chair, and Daniel was staring at me silently, playing with my shirt. I watched his tiny little fingers clench into little tiny fists the size of a cherry tomato.

I smiled and stood up, taking him back downstairs into the kitchen. I have to eat something or I'll starve to death. Then I have to get back to my lab. I've almost come up with a permanent treatment to asthma. If the treatment is given once, it'll never be needed again.

With one hand, I grabbed some pasta out of the fridge, warmed it up, grabbed a fork, and sat down to eat.

He made some strange noises and just watched me. It's a bit disorienting. He's also trying to grab everything I have, like my fork, my little necklace, and anything else he can.

"Daniel, let me eat please." I said. He looked at me with those giant eyes. How am I supposed to chastise him when he gives me the seal pup eyes? It doesn't work.

Naomi walked in, looked at me, and took Daniel from me, holding him. "You eat. I'll take care of him." she said.

"Naomi-"

"No buts. I'm not even doing anything. I'm bored. Mom locked me out of my lab. Dad locked me out of his. Tanner's a bore and Robert's not here." she said. I laughed.

"Fine. Go on. But If he needs a diaper change its on you." I told her.

"Deal." she said, leaving. I quickly finished my food and went down to the lab.

I worked on it until I couldn't stay awake anymore. I glanced at the clock. It's 2:00 AM and they're still not back. I sighed again. They'd better get back here in one piece.

I sat down on my chair and stared at my data. I can't figure out what's missing. Everything seems to be here but it's not working. Some hair fell in my eyes and I groaned. I should really cut it. I pulled it back into a loose bun on top of my head and kept working. Then some small curls fell out and into my face. I'm frustrated now.

Suddenly I heard a baby's cry and snapped my head up, but it was Scarlet and Jade was with her. "Hey Di." she said.

"Hey." I said tiredly.

"You should go to sleep."

"I can't. And isn't that a bit hypocritical?" I asked her.

She laughed. "Nah. She just woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep." She said. Scarlet smiled at this.

I laughed. "She doesn't look sorry about that." I said, smiling.

"Oh no she's not." She said, looking at the baby girl, who just kept smiling broadly. Then I smelt something terrible. "And she- I have to go change her. You should get some sleep." She said, sighing.

"I will." I said.

She smirked. "No you won't." She said, shaking her head and leaving. I smiled and went back to work. Then I heard Daniel crying from the baby monitor. I got up and tried putting him back to sleep, but he apparently doesn't want to do that, and he's clinging onto me like crazy. I sighed and brought him to the lab and put him on my lap as I continued working. He eventually fell asleep, curled up against me, and I leaned my head back. Suddenly I heard footsteps. I didn't even bother. It's probably my mom trying to tell me to go back to sleep.

I felt hands cover my eyes. "Guess who." I heard Elliot say. I turned around in my spinny chair and glared at him.

"You're late."

He laughed quietly. "I'm sorry. There was turbulence and-"

"Excuses." I said. "It doesn't matter. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He said, then he sighed. "I'm exhausted though."

I gave him a look. " _You're_ tired? I haven't been getting any sleep because of this one." I said, gesturing down at Daniel.

"He's so cute." He said. I smiled.

"Can you take him? I can't stand up." I said. He picked him up and I stood.

"Is Alana okay too?" I asked.

"Yeah. She's good too. You worry too much. It really was nothing." He said.

I gave him a look. "It took you a week." I said.

"That's not my fault. That's Lana's fault." He said. I raised my eyebrows at him. "Well, it's a long story and we're both really tired. I'll tell you tomorrow. Also, why aren't you sleeping?"

"I've been working." I told him.

He rolled his eyes. "You need sleep."

"I know. And I get enough sleep." I said.

He gave me a look. "No you don't. You would live in here if you could."

I smiled. "Yes I would. I mean, look. There's a bed, a fridge, blowtorches to cook, and Daniel could sleep on another bed."

"What about me?" He asked.

"You could share a bed with me or take an examination table. Your choice." I said.

He shook his head. "Gee thanks." He said.

Then Daniel started waking up. He stared at Elliot for a minute before closing his eyes again. I yawned.

"See? You're yawning." Elliot said.

"Yawning isn't a response to tiredness it's a response to change in brain activity." I replied.

"Come on. Let's go. You can work on it more tomorrow." he said.

"But I'm almost there."

"But you're not going to get any work done when you're going on like two hours of sleep." he pointed out. I couldn't think of an argument for that one. He put his free arm around me and kissed the top of my head.

"Fine. Let's go." I said, and we walked upstairs into my room where Daniel's crib is. I laid down next to Elliot and closed my eyes, falling asleep almost immediately.


	29. Pregnancy confusion

**Hi guys! New chapter! Enjoy. :)**

Alana and Tanner: Age 21

(ALANA POV)

I stared at the pregnancy test in front of me. There is no way. No freaking way. I knew it was coming but I didn't think it would be this soon. I took a deep breath and tried to hold back the tears.

I don't even know how I feel about this. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't even care about my emotions, because nobody has time for that, but for once I do care. And even worse, the one time I actually want to know, I have absolutely no clue.

Emotions are not my thing. I steeled my nerves and walked out of my room, drying the tears and trying to pull myself together.

Then I bumped into someone. I looked up and it was Elliot, who was holding a sleeping Daniel.

"What happened?" he asked me, concerned.

"Nothing happened. I'm fine."

"Lana, I haven't seen you crying since- a long time." He said.

"It's been thirteen years and counting since you've seen me crying." I said.

"I'm serious. What's up?" he asked. I looked at him. He's not going to drop it. In fact, he probably won't let me leave until I tell him what's wrong. But I don't want to tell him. I mean, I do, but I also don't. I figure if there's anyone I should tell, it's him, and telling Tanner is probably a really good idea, and maybe my parents, but at the same time I just want this thing in my uterus to go away.

"I'm pregnant." I blurted out, tears spilling again. He looked at me shocked. "Well don't just stand there with your mouth open! What do I do? How do I tell Tanner?" I asked. He pulled me in for a hug, but for once I didn't pull away.

"Okay. Okay. Calm down. Do you want me to punch Tanner? Because I will."

I laughed a little. "No no, don't do that. Although I love how quick you are to punch your friend."

"Lana, you're my sister. You come first. If you want me to punch anybody, I will."

"Please, if I ever wanted to punch Tanner, which will probably never happen, I'll do it myself." I said, smiling a little. But then I remembered that problem at hand. "Elliot, what do I do?"

"Look. You knew this was coming eventually, right? It'll all work out. Just tell Tanner, mom and dad, and then nobody else has to know if you don't want them to, at least until it becomes, you know, noticeable." he said.

"You make it sound so easy. It doesn't just work like that."

"That's what you're telling yourself. I'm going to be real with you. Tanner will be fine with it. Mom is practical and knew that you would get pregnant around this time, and dad's a freaking therapist who deals with teen moms on a daily basis. I would think he'd be glad to have you get pregnant at 20 and not much younger." he told me.

"I know, but what if they-"

"No. There aren't any what ifs. If they have a problem with it then it doesn't even matter. Do you want the baby?" he asked.

"Of course I do."

"Then that's all that matters. What are they going to do? I can guarantee that they won't have any problems, but if they do, it's their problem not yours." he said.

I pulled away and dried off the tears. "Thanks Elliot." I said.

"No problem. Just don't overthink it. And just from experience, it's much more complicated of you tell Tanner later rather than sooner." he said. And then Daniel started making those strange sounds babies make.

He opened his big sea green eyes and stared at me for a moment, then smiled brightly. His teeth are starting to come in and he has two little bottom teeth grown in so far. I smiled back at him. He's so adorable. It's not even fair. How is anyone supposed to say no to him?

Also, he has really long eyelashes. They're longer than mine even when I put on mascara.

"Mama!" he said excitedly, having turned his head around and jumping around excitedly in Elliot's arms. That's the only word he knows.

We looked behind us and saw Dianna walking down the hall towards us.

She took Daniel from my brother. "Hello mister. Did you miss me?" she asked him.

"Mama!" he said again. She laughed and hugged him tightly.

"Do you want to show Aunty Alana how you walk?" she asked.

"Mama!" he said once more. We laughed and Dianna put him down, supporting him until he got his balance back. He walked slowly forward until he fell forward, using his chubby little arms to brace himself. So cute.

Elliot laughed and picked him up. I smiled. Turns out I'm not so nervous for this after all.

(NAOMI POV)

I walked into the kitchen and saw Tanner, sitting there, by himself, staring intently at the counter.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He snapped his head up. "What? Oh, nothing."

"Yeah I can see that."

"Well then why'd you ask?"

"Good point. So what's up?"

"Nothing much. I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Alana is pregnant." he said bluntly. I stared at him.

"No. Way. Did Elliot punch you?"

He laughed. "Nah. I expected him to though."

"Did Alana punch you?" I asked.

"No. Why would she?"

"Because you got her pregnant."

"It wasn't entirely my doing you know. She participated." he said.

"I know. But I punched Robert." I said. I waited for him to figure it out.

His eyes widened. "You're-"

"Yeah."

"And you punched Robert?"

"Yeah."

"So let me get this straight. You're actually- oh god."

"Yes Tanner. I am actually pregnant."

"When did you find out?"

"This morning. I didn't tell anyone yet."

"So you just punched Robert without explanation."

"Yeah. Although I kissed him right after, so he's probably very confused. Honestly, I only punched him because I'm going to get fat."

"Please. It'll go away." He said, smiling.

"So when did you find out that Alana was pregnant?"

"A few minutes before you walked in. She just told me and then left. Didn't say anything else."

"Oh." I said. Then Alana walked in. I smiled at her.

"So. You're pregnant too." I said. She looked at me.

"Tanner told you?" she asked, not even mentioning the fact that I'm pregnant.

"Yeah." she accepted long ago that Tanner and I are a package deal. You date one twin, you might as well be dating the other too. She also accepts that we tell each other everything, no exceptions. And by everything, I mean quite literally _everything_. Even the things neither of us really wants to know.

"Mmkay. So Elliot said that it's not complicated and he had experience, but he's also a boy, so I don't know." she said to me.

"Hey!" Tanner protested. Alana didn't acknowledge him and I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Come on." I said, dragging her outside, leaving Tanner, who has zero clue about what's going on, alone in the kitchen. "So what's up?" I asked.

"Nothing's up."

"That's funny. You know that if anything, he's happy about this, right?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Then what is your problem?"

"What is your problem? You haven't told anyone except for your brother, and that's a given because you two are pretty much conjoined at the hip." she responded calmly.

"Good point. But I plan to. And on top of that, I'm not avoiding my boyfriend."

"Aren't you though? You haven't talked to him all day."

"First of all, I have a life, second of all, I've interacted with him which is more than you can say, and third of all, you really shouldn't be spying on me." I said.

She sighed. "I don't know. I just don't know how to- this is so awkward."

"You're the queen of making things awkward for everyone else. Why can't you handle it when it's awkward for yourself?" I asked.

"I DON'T KNOW." she said, frustrated. Usually she's level headed in the sense that she doesn't get mad or yell.

"Me neither. So you can try and figure it out or you can avoid Tanner for the rest of your life, which isn't going to work."

"I'm not going to avoid him forever. Just until I figure this out."

"You're being stupid." I told her.

"Don't call her stupid." Tanner said, leaning back against the wall.

"I didn't call her stupid. I said she's being stupid. There's a difference smart one." I told him.

"I know, but by telling her she is being stupid you're temporarily assigning the trait of stupidity to her, _smart one_." He replied.

"Yeah, however, the phrase "calling her stupid" implies permanence, _Einstein."_ I sniped back, using the nicknames we made for each other a long time ago.

"But implied statements are subjective to the person taking inferences from the speaker, _Curie._ " He snapped in reply.

"Yo! Nerds! I'm still here. Quit using fancy language and arguing about my stupidity!" Alana interrupted.

"We're not nerds." We said. Then I smirked, pushed Alana into a closet, pulled Tanner into it too, then shut the door and locked it from the outside. It has a glass window, and it is a giant closet, and then I grinned.

"I'm a genius." I said, satisfied. They glared at me.

"What are you doing?!" Alana asked.

"I got you to acknowledge him. Now, on top of that, I got you in a closet together. Talk to each other, do other stuff, I don't really care. But you're stuck in there for a few hours. Have fun!" I said, smiling and leaving.

(TANNER POV)

I hate my sister. I hate her so much. Why can't she mind her own business? Alana already wasn't even acknowledging my existence before, and I really don't want to be sitting in here with her not talking to me for hours. I can try all I want to get her to talk to me, but really, if she makes up her mind not to, she's way too stubborn to change that decision any time soon.

"I'm not ignoring you." she said, as though she could read my mind.

"Never said you were."

"You were thinking it."

"Yeah I was, but can you really blame me? Are you going to tell me what the problem is?"

"I'm overwhelmed. Okay? I just don't know what to do or say or- I don't know. And I always know how to handle things." she said.

"You don't have to do or say anything. You should probably tell your parents, but other than that, you don't have to tell anyone until it becomes obvious."

"But what about when it becomes obvious? This isn't just something you can- it's not a quick solution." she said, frustrated, leaning back against the wall.

"Solution implies that there's a problem. Is there a problem?" I asked, standing in front of her.

She looked at me. "I don't have a problem with the baby. I have a problem with the fact that I don't know how to feel about it. I mean, I want the baby, I just don't want to mess something up. I don't know if I'm even ready for this.",

"Well then we can figure that out, and we won't mess up." I told her.

"You keep saying we." she stated.

"And?"

"Tanner, if anything goes wrong, that's on me." she said.

I scoffed. "That's ridiculous. If something goes wrong, which it won't, it's on both of us. It takes two to make and raise a kid." I said.

"Good point." she said, sighing.

"Look. I know it's a lot. But it was kind of meant to happen and we kind of saw it coming." I pointed out.

"I know. And I thought I was prepared. But apparently I wasn't. And I don't even know why I care so much. I don't care about these things." she said, slamming her head back against the wall hard.

"You'll hurt yourself doing that." I said.

"I don't care."

"You keep saying that, but you do care."

"Okay. You're right! Are you happy now?" She yelled, crying. Wow. It's been a long time since I've seen her crying.

"No." I said quietly. She stared at me.

"What is wrong with me? I don't even- I don't have a problem with being pregnant, I don't have any problems with any of this so why am I so upset?" She asked.

"I don't know. Look. It'll be fine. Whatever is wrong, it can't be that bad." I said.

"I know. You're right." She said quietly. She stepped forward and hugged me. I hugged her back.

"I love you." She said.

"I love you too." I replied.


	30. Possessive Jerks

**Hello everyone! I'm very excited for this chapter! If you're caught up with TRoJ you'll understand why Jade hates the name Ariana so much. Enjoy! :)**

Jade and Jason: Age 16

(JADE POV)

It's time for school, yet again, and I'm so annoyed. There's this girl who's constantly flirting with Jase. She's such a- never mind. I told myself I will try really hard not to judge her but it's extremely hard to do that when she's basically throwing herself at my boyfriend. Hence the _my boyfriend._

I got ready and knocked on Naomi's door. "Hey! Come out of there! We're getting late!" I yelled.

"Oh give me a minute! This flawless face can't be rushed!" she replied.

"I swear to god if you're not out in the next two seconds I'm going to-"

"I'm out." she said, opening the door. "Who pissed you off?" she asked.

"Ariana Wetherton." I said, the name sour.

"Somebody's getting a little jealous and possessive." she teased me.

I scoffed. "That's ridiculous." I muttered.

"No it's not. It happens to everyone. It happens to Jason too you know. And it's rather obvious."

"It never happens to him. Nobody flirts with me. I think they're all terrified." I said, smirking.

"Are you that oblivious?" she asked me. "Dylan Barreo has been hitting on you for at least three months."

"No way. He's just a friend."

"To you, but not to him."

"Whatever. He's stupid anyway. He can't memorize the quadratic formula and it's our junior year. We're in precalc." I said.

"I memorized that when I was three." She deadpanned. I rolled my eyes.

"Well you're a genius." I said.

She flipped her hair. "Why thank you."

(LATER)

"The last group will be Jade, Jason, and Ariana." Our teacher said. She was assigning is into groups of three for a project we had to do. And of course, we have to meet outside of school to finish it. Just kill me now.

We walked out of the classroom and into the hallway, as class is now over. Ariana was walking over, so I made a split second decision. I grabbed Jason's shirt, brought him down to my level, and kissed him passionately. He was kind of confused, but went with it anyway. I pulled away and smirked. He gave me a look.

"Red, what-"

"Oh that's cute. You have nicknames for each other! You should come up with a nickname for me!" Ariana said. I wanted to punch her.

"That's kind of the point. We have nicknames for _each other_ that we decided on when we were like two months old. You weren't there. Sorry not sorry." I said harshly.

I spotted Sarah, Johnny, and Alana talking a few lockers down and made eye contact with Alana. _Please please please come over here now and get this obnoxious….. Person….. Away from me before I punch her._ I thought to her.

She smirked at me, and the three of them walked over. "Hey Ariana. I have to talk to the lovebirds about some stuff." Alana said.

"Okay." Ariana replied, jutting her hip out. She looks like she has a broken leg.

" _Alone._ " Alana specified, glaring. Alana is terrifying. Even more scary than me.

"Oh well I had to talk to them too." she replied.

"Alana we'll talk later. We'll all be at the tower, we can just see each other then." Jase said.

"No. Alana can say what she had to say. Ariana can talk to us later."

"But this is for school. It's important."

"Does it look like school is my number one priority?" I snapped.

"Well, maybe I should tell the teacher you said that."

"Maybe _I_ should tell the teachers you were skipping school all of last week and faked the calls you sent in saying you were sick, supposedly from your mom." I replied.

We engaged in a staring match to which I was about to win before Jase interrupted.

"So what did you want to ask?" he asked her.

"Oh nothing much. When do you want to meet up?" she asked, batting her eyelashes. "Your house or mine?"

"How about the library?" I said, giving Jase a look.

"No. I can't get a ride. You guys should come to my house." Ariana said.

"You have a license." I argued.

"But no car."

"Use your parent's car."

"Why won't you just come over? I mean, if you don't want to, he can always come by himself." she said, looking at Jason flirtatiously.

I glared at her. Just then Sarah came and stood in between Jase and I, putting her arms over both of our shoulders and smiling at Ariana falsely. She shocked me slightly and gave me a look.

"That's really okay. Actually, why don't you come to our place?" Sarah asked, smiling.

"I told you. I don't have a ride."

"Those two will come pick you up. Won't they?" she asked, giving us looks.

"Sure." Jase said, clearly not seeing the problem. Now I want to smack him too.

I glared at Ariana, Sarah, and Jase, and walked away. I'm done. I'm just counting on Alana to make sure Ariana doesn't try anything.

Just then Dylan saw me and came over. "Hey Jade." he said.

Remembering what Naomi said earlier, I gave him a look. "I need to go. I'll see you later." I said, not stopping.

"Where are you going? It's lunchtime. We still have half the school day." he said.

"I'm just going to talk to a teacher about making up a test." I replied.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes!" I snapped. He looked kind of shocked.

"Sorry. I'm just annoyed by someone." I said.

"Who?" he asked. I glanced over at where everyone else was standing and he nodded.

"Jason? I can understand. I don't know why you're even with him."

"No! Ariana. And don't insult my boyfriend." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh. Why is she annoying you?"

"She's obnoxious." I said, not lying, but I'm not going to tell the truth either. "Well I really have to go. See you later. Also, never say another word about Jase again or I'll punch you. And it will hurt."

"Jeez okay." he said, and I walked away. I glanced at them all one more time before turning the corner only to see Jase looking straight at me.

I looked away and kept walking. I need help.

 _Meet me in the girls bathroom next to the front door._ I thought to Naomi. Sure enough, a few minutes later she showed up and brought Dianna with her.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Sarah suggested that Jase and I should pick up Ariana and bring her to the tower tomorrow to work on this stupid project. And then Jase agreed. I want to slap all three of them." I said.

"Sarah probably has a plan." Naomi said.

"Probably. But what can she do?" I said.

"You know Sarah. She can do a lot of things. I wouldn't slap her just yet." Dianna replied.

"This is so annoying because I don't want to be in a car with her but I'm also not going to send Jase by himself because God knows what she'll try to do." I muttered.

"Girls, you should be at lunch." A teacher said, walking in.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, just don't let it happen again." she said, but made no move to enter a stall or look in the mirror or anything. I saw her hand go towards her hip where I saw the corner of a gun, but before she could do anything I whipped out my icer and shot her. She fell with a thud.

"Jade-"

"Hydra." I said, pissed off. "God. I have bigger problems than having Hydra agents follow us to school."

Dianna laughed. "Oh really? Ariana is a bigger problem than a Hydra agent?"

"Of course it is." Naomi said, smirking. "Just wait. I notice everything, but you don't seem to know how _everyone_ in this school looks at Elliot. I personally find it gross because he's like an older brother to me, but in Anaya's words exactly, she said: _Elliot Garner is sooooooo hot!_ " she told us, imitating a high pitched fangirly voice.

I laughed and Dianna flushed, although not with embarrassment.

"And oh lord the things Emelia says about Jason? Priceless! _Why does he have to be so perfect?"_ She said, in a fake daydreamy voice. I stopped laughing and glared at her. She kept laughing at us.

Nobody says anything about Robert. Not because he's bad looking, because it's quite the opposite, but because he's too smart for any of them. Girls, myself included, like to be right. It's very difficult to be right when your boyfriend can recite the periodic table backwards. I'm not sure if Robert can do that, but knowing him, he probably can. Naomi and him work out wonderfully because she can counter his brains with her own. They are so shippable. I glanced at the body and pulled out my phone. "Hey Eddie."

"Hey Jade." he replied.

"Um, so one of our teachers turned out to be a Hydra agent, so I iced her. Nobody else saw. She's here though. We kind of need to get rid of her because we're in the bathroom and we can't let people see her so-"

"Yeah. We'll be there in five." he said.

"Okay thanks."

"No problem." he said, hanging up.

We have to stay here until they come, so we just continued talking for a while. At least I'm not thinking about Ariana anymore. Oh wait, I guess I am. Stupid- I'm not going to say it.

(JASON POV- MORNING)

I finished getting ready and then walked out, Elliot walking out next to me. He said something to me but I didn't quite hear it. "Huh?" I asked.

He looked at me.

"Never mind. It's not important." he muttered.

"Sorry. I'm so tired. I'll probably sleep in Mr. Andrews's class." I said, barely awake.

"Your hair looks terrible." he informed me.

"I don't even care." I muttered, running a hand through it.

He looked at me. "When did you go to sleep last night?" he asked.

I shrugged. "4? 5 maybe." I said.

"I heard you talking to Jade downstairs. I didn't hear what you said but I heard your voices." he told me.

"Oh." I said blandly. I don't really know what I should say.

"You two spend every breathing moment together." he pointed out.

"Not quite every."

"Just most."

"Do not."

"Yes you do. Di, dont Jason and Jade spend every breathing moment together?" Elliot asked.

"Yes. They do." she replied. "I think it's cute."

I groaned. "Go away." I said. He laughed.

"Man. You're sleep deprived." he told me.

"You didn't get that by the start of our conversation, or, I don't know, my face?" I asked him, too tired to make jokes.

"Jeez. Who annoyed you?" he asked.

"Dylan." I replied, as when someone says the word 'annoying', he's the first face that comes to mind.

"What did he do?" Tanner asked, coming up next to us.

"Nothing." I muttered. We were getting in the plane now and Red was sitting right there. She doesn't notice it and I'm not going to mention it now.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked, not unkindly, her expression mirroring mine, annoyed and tired.

"People. You?"

"People." she said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. "And lack of sleep." she murmured as an afterthought. she opened her eyes again. "Who's bothering you?" she asked me.

"I'll tell you later." I said. Johnny knows. He made eye contact with me and smirked. I rolled my eyes.

(LATER)

After we got assigned our groups for this project Red was looking so pissed off and as far as I could see, nothing even happened. We walked out of the classroom and then she glanced to the side, her face took on a glare, and she turned to me. She grabbed my shirt and kissed me intensely. No reason.

I went along with it, because that's just what you do when your girlfriend is pissed off for no apparent reason and she kisses you. You roll with it. She pulled away and I looked at her.

"Red, what-" then I got cut off by Ariana. She's one of my friends, but I don't think Red likes her very much.

"Oh that's cute. You have nicknames for each other! You should come up with a nickname for me!" Ariana said. I don't know what to say to that. Do I explain how our 'nicknames' came about? Being social is so difficult.

"That's kind of the point. We have nicknames for _each other_ that we decided on when we were like two months old. You weren't there. Sorry not sorry." She said, giving her the death glare.

Then Alana, Sarah, and Johnny walked over. "Hey Ariana. I have to talk to the lovebirds about some stuff." Alana said.

"Okay." Ariana replied, not hearing the implications of what Alana said.

" _Alone._ " Alana specified, glaring. Alana can be very scary sometimes. Now is one of them. Do all the girls hate Ariana?

"Oh well I had to talk to them too." she said.

"Alana we'll talk later. We'll all be at the tower, we can just see each other then." I said, looking at her. She's lying. And more than that, she's amused, which is not what I was expecting.

"No. Alana can say what she had to say. Ariana can talk to us later." Jade insisted.

"But this is for school. It's important." Ariana objected.

"Does it look like school is my number one priority?" she snapped. I don't know why she's being so . . . Snippy.

"Well, maybe I should tell the teacher you said that."

"Maybe _I_ should tell the teachers you were skipping school all of last week and faked the calls you sent in saying you were sick, supposedly from your mom." Red told her, and they started an impromptu staring contest that Red was clearly going to win until I interrupted.

"So what did you want to ask?" I asked her.

"Oh nothing much. When do you want to meet up?" she asked. "Your house or mine?"

"How about the library?" Jade said, giving me a look. I don't understand the look. Why is she giving me a look?

"No. I can't get a ride. You guys should come to my house." Ariana said.

"You have a license." Jade argued.

"But no car."

"Use your parent's car."

"Why won't you just come over? I mean, if you don't want to, he can always come by himself." she said, looking at me.

Red glared at her. Just then Sarah came and stood in between Red and I, putting her arms over both of our shoulders and smiling at Ariana falsely. It was wayyyy too sweet and anyone who knows my cousin knows that she doesn't smile like that unless she wants something.

"That's really okay. Actually, why don't you come to our place?" Sarah asked, smiling.

"I told you. I don't have a ride."

"Those two will come pick you up. Won't they?" she asked, giving us looks.

"Sure." I said, not seeing any problem. Red looked like she wanted to punch me and I still have no idea why.

Red glared at all of us and walked away, clearly annoyed. I don't understand.

My gaze followed her and I saw her stop to talk to Dylan. I despise him and I want to punch him daily. Red doesn't notice it at all, but it's the little things that annoy me.

Like how he stands too close to her, how he is constantly around her, his annoying arrogance, how he- I should stop.

He doesn't get it. She's _taken._ He needs to move on. And she doesn't see it either.

She made eye contact with me briefly before turning the corner.

"Is she always like this?" Ariana asked, looking distastefully at where Red disappeared down the halls

"Like _what_?" I asked, getting defensive.

"Yes Ariana, like _what_?" Alana asked, looking terrifying.

"A brat. I don't even know why you stay with her." she replied, looking at me. Everyone snapped their heads at her.

"Excuse me?" I asked her, glaring.

"You heard me. She's not good for you." She said. I laughed coldly.

"I love how you think you know enough about me to make that statement." I said coldly.

"I do. You care about school, she doesn't. You're a nice person, she's not." she said matter of factly. I opened my mouth to respond but Sarah did it for me.

"What the hell? Who do you think you are?" she snapped.

"Don't tell me I'm wrong. You all believe it." Ariana said surely. "In surprised that she didn't get pissed off at you for putting her arm around him." she said to Sarah.

"She's my cousin!" I said, shaking my head. Sarah and I actually do look pretty similar, not outright, as she has brown hair and darker skin, but our eyes and nose shape are pretty much the same that we got from our moms.

"And she has a boyfriend." Johnny interjected.

"There are way too many things wrong with that statement." Sarah said, annoyed as well. Everyone was glaring at Ariana now.

Then I saw Eddie walk in the building. Eddie?

Then Dylan walked up to us. I grit my teeth. "Hello everyone." he said, grinning.

"Go away Dylan." I snapped.

"Still think he's nice?" Alana asked, smirking. I gave her a look and she laughed.

"Jeez man. No need to be all hostile." he said. I rolled my eyes.

"Do you need something?" I asked.

"Yes. I was looking for Jade." he said.

"Why?" I snapped. Sarah raised her eyebrows at me and Johnny smirked.

"I was just wondering where she was. She said she was coming to lunch like 10 minutes ago."

"You're not her babysitter." I said.

"Neither are you. But you always seem to know where she is."

"Because she tells me, not because I stalk her." I replied.

"I'm not stalking her."

"Nobody said you were." I said.

"You implied it." He sniped back.

"Okay. I did. Do you have any objections to that?"

"Yeah I do."

"Care to enlighten us?" Sarah asked, glaring.

"Do you even care about her?" he asked me out of the blue.

I want to punch him so badly right now but can't. Mostly because if he somehow manages to be quicker than me Alana is standing sort of behind him so I could hit her and I don't want to do that. Although she would probably punch me back, accident or not.

"Of course I do. Do you? Because you seem like one creepy _friend."_ I said.

"I think I care about her more than you do." he said confidently. I glared at him.

"Do you want me to punch you?" I asked.

"As if you would."

"Try me." I growled.

His eyes showed a flicker of doubt and wariness, but he didn't back off. "I-"

"I don't really care to listen to what you have to say." I muttered, leaving. He grabbed my arm and by instinct I twisted my arm away, spraining his wrist in the process. He yelled in pain and I shrugged.

"I warned you." I said, leaving.

"Jason, what the hell was that?" Sarah asked me, following. "You know you can't do that here. And besides, don't you think that was a bit much?"

"I never intended to sprain his wrist. I just don't really like other people touching me, and it's kind of become second nature to react whenever someone does." I said, not regretful.

"Look. You and Jade have to talk to each other and figure this out because you guys are going to drive the rest of us insane. Ariana has been flirting with you for months and you haven't noticed. So she's been getting more and more annoyed and Naomi just texted me that she shot a teacher with an icer- " she said, whispering the last part. She was probably going to continue but I cut her off anyway.

"Crap." I muttered, walking around to where I last saw her go as soon as the words left her mouth.

I saw Eddie, Dianna, and Naomi along with her. She avoided looking at me. I looked at Eddie who shrugged. "Hydra." he said, carrying the body away. The principal walked over and he showed his SHIELD badge. They exchanged a few words and then he left.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "We have to leave." Dianna and Naomi said, walking away. We were alone now. I looked at Red who looked back at me.

"Why'd you sprain Dylan's wrist?" she asked, not accusatorially.

"He said some very rude things and Ariana had said some very rude things before that so I was already tensed and then he grabbed my arm so I twisted it away and that happened."

"What did they say?" she asked, looking to the side.

"Just some very rude things about you." I said, not specifying.

She looked me in the eyes. "What did she say?" she asked again.

"She said that you were 'bad' for me and that you're a brat and that she was surprised you didn't get annoyed at Sarah for putting her arm around me." I said. She laughed coldly. Funny, that was my reaction.

"She's even more stupid than I thought. What did Dylan do?" she asked.

"Not minding his own business." I muttered under my breath. "He said that he cares about you more than I do and then I left because he's a- never mind. You know, I probably sound like a possessive jerk." I muttered.

"If you're a possessive jerk then so am I." she said, looking away.

I raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged. "Didn't you ever wonder why I hate Ariana so much? And you were oblivious until now, so today I wanted to slap you." she said.

So that's why she was so pissed off. "That's also why you kissed me?" I asked, smirking. She blushed slightly and I laughed.

She punched my arm, not hard, but hard enough to make me stop laughing. "What was that for?" I asked, still smiling.

"It's for two things. First, being oblivious for months, second, for making fun of me." she said.

"I feel the love." I replied. She laughed and kissed me. I leaned my forehead on hers.

"You know, it's our fault all these people like us. We're just a very attractive couple." she said, smiling.

I kissed her again, my hand resting on her waist. She pulled away and looked at me. "Mrs. Reynolds is going to kill us if she sees us making out one more time." she said.

I laughed. "Good point. Plus, I think this counts as skipping class." She smirked.

"Do I look like I care?" she asked, kissing me again.


	31. Switching Bodies

**Hello peoples! I just want to say how much I appreciate you guys. Anyway, this chapter is where Naomi and Tanner switch bodies because of Tony's crazy late night experiments. Enjoy! :)**

(NAOMI POV)

I woke up and instantly felt strange. I was heavier and taller and- what the heck? Where did my chest go?! I swear I'm not this flat. I looked at my hands and screamed. I grabbed my phone from next to me but it's not my phone. It's Tanner's. I'm not in my room, I'm in his.

"TANNER ANTHONY STARK WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!" I yelled, exiting his room and barging into mine. He was sleeping. He woke up and stared at me.

"What the-" he looked down at himself and screamed. I forgot that I only slept in a tank top without a bra on. I glared at him.

"What did you do?" I demanded.

"What makes you think I did this? I don't want to be a girl." He muttered.

I groaned. "Then it was dad." I said, leaving.

"Naomi wait-" he started before he was cut off by our mom.

"Tanner, why are you walking around in your underwear? Go put on some clothes." Mom chastised. I laughed.

"Sorry mom. I'm Naomi. The one in my body is Tanner. I think dad did something. I was kind of unaware of what he wears to sleep." I said dryly.

"Tanner, you can't blame everything on your sister."

"Mom! I mean it. Look at me! I have _muscles_." I said. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes honey. I know. Go put on some clothes."

I groaned. "Whatever." I muttered. She's not going to believe me.

"Naomi, why are you just waking up? You never get up this late.." I heard her say to Tanner who is in my body.

"She woke me up." I heard him, well, me, say.

"Who woke you up?" She asked.

"Naomi. Who else." He groaned.

"You _are_ Naomi. Unless. Crap. TONY!" She yelled, exiting the room.

I grabbed Tanner, aka me, and dragged him into his room. "This is a mess. Which clothes are clean and which are dirty and which are decent and which are not?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I dunno. Just wear these." He said, handing me a random pair of jeans and a hoodie. I gave him a look and put it on.

I have to help him wear something now. Or else he'll smash my reputation for being the best dressed because he has zero fashion sense.

I handed him a pair of skinny jeans and a long sleeve shirt. Then I realized something. Oh crap.

"Close your eyes. I'm going to put a bra on you, or you know, me." I said. He went red.

"Oh god." he muttered.

"It's not that bad. Just keep them shut. It'll probably feel weird, but it doesn't matter, it's necessary." I did it quickly, as this is very weird. He put on whatever else and then he realized something.

"Naomi, what if we have to use the bathroom?" he asked.

I facepalmed. "DAD!" I yelled. He came into my room and looked between us.

"You called?" he said.

"What did you do? I'm in his body and he's in mine!" I shouted.

"Naomi?" he asked me.

"Yes dad! It's Naomi. And that's Tanner! He doesn't even know how a bra works, although you would think he would, seeing as he and Alana have- you know what, that's not important." I said, noticing my dad and Tanner both looking uncomfortable.

"So? What _did_ you do?" Tanner asked him.

"Well, I was working in the lab and, well, it was an accident. I didn't mean to switch you two. But then again, this is hilarious." he said.

"Mom's going to kill you." Tanner said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh crap. Pepper. I'm going to hide. Good luck." he said.

"Dad! You can't just-"

"Sorry! he interjected.

"We have to figure this out, don't we?" he asked.

"Unfortunately." I muttered. "But first, you want to have some fun with this?" I asked, smirking.

He gave me a look. "Don't do that."

"What?"

"That face. It looks weird on me. Anyway, we should see if Alana and Robert notice the differences." he said.

"Oh yes. That'll be fun." I said, grinning.

"Good, let's go." he said, and walked out. I out of habit started heading for the lab when he grabbed my shoulder.

"Not the lab." he said. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. I'm sure he'll notice the difference." I said confidently.

"Why?"

"I'm more conceited than you." I replied.

He laughed. "That's not a good thing." Then we walked our separate ways. I found Alana sitting in the kitchen, talking to Sarah.

"Oh hey Tanner." she said.

"Hey." I replied. I went to go make myself some breakfast when she looked at me.

"You're up really early." she noticed.

"Naomi woke me up. She tried to prank me." I said, because we all know that's totally believable. I'm a genius, I know.

She smirked. "What did she do this time? Was it better than last time?"

I'm flattered she thinks so highly of me. "I don't think that was a prank Tanner. I think she just screamed." Sarah said.

"True. Although she thought it was hilarious." I muttered, trying to act like my boring brother.

"I think you spend too much time with her. You're starting to talk like her." Alana said, grinning.

"Oh god no. That's the worst insult you could ever say to me." I said.

I grabbed my waffles, not realizing that Tanner despises these. "What the heck? You _hate_ those." Alana said.

"I had a change of heart." I said, shrugging.

"What's your problem?"

"I don't have a problem, do you?"

"No seriously. Are you like, not Tanner or something?"

"Pssssh that's ridiculous." I replied.

"No it's not. You talk like Nims, you're eating what she eats, and you're even standing like her. Is this some science experiment gone wrong?" she guessed perfectly.

"Yup! But don't call me that." I said.

"I'm going to lock you out of that stupid lab Naomi." she said through gritted teeth.

"Eww no! Do you think I want to be him? Of course not. I'm fabulous, why would I want to be in a different body? Especially his! Anyway, it was my dad's fault." I said.

She rolled her eyes. "Yup. Definitely Nims." she muttered.

"We're going to find your dad and make him fix this." she said, grabbing my arm and dragging me along.

(TANNER POV -in Naomi's body)

I walked into the lab and Dianna, Elliot, and Robert were all there.

"Good morning." Dianna said, not looking up.

"Hey." I replied. Everyone looked at me strangely. "What?" I asked.

"You didn't do the thing." Robert said.

"What thing?" I asked.

"Whatever." Dianna muttered. "I guess she finally got over it."

"Got over what?!" I asked.

"Naomi, this is a really bad prank." Elliot informed me.

"What? I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." I said. Naomi never mentioned this.

"You're losing your touch." Robert said, grabbing something and putting it over to the side.

"Whatever. I don't know what you guys are talking about. Anyway, what are you working on?" I asked.

"The DNA swapping formula." He replied, looking at me strangely. "Are you okay?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked.

"Your dad has been working on this for the past month. This morning he came up to me and asked if I could take a look at it because something went wrong. I texted you all this. Who are you?" he said, giving me a calculating look.

I looked down at my phone and resisted the urge to facepalm. "I'm Naomi. Who else would I be? I must have grabbed Tanner's phone on accident." I muttered.

"That's not Naomi." Dianna said, not looking up from her microscope.

"Nope. That's Tanner." Elliot agreed, not looking up from his phone.

"Yup. It's me. My dad did something stupid and Naomi and I switched bodies. And now he's hiding from my mom." I said.

"Oh okay good. I didn't want to say that you were Tanner because if I was wrong, well, let's just say Naomi would be highly offended." he said.

" _Im_ offended by that statement." I said.

Then Alana walked in, dragging Naomi who was in my body behind her.

My sister pulled her wrist away. "God. You know if you had asked nicely, or even just asked at all, I would've followed you, right?" she asked, rubbing her, or my, wrist.

Alana ignored her. "So you're Tanner?" she asked, pointing to me. I nodded and she slapped me on the arm. "You idiot. You can neve go along with her plans!" she said.

"Hey!" My sister and I both said. "That hurt you know." I said.

"It was meant to." Alana replied. This is so weird. I'm shorter than her now. I've never been shorter than her my entire life.

"And could you wait to slap him until he's back in his own body please?" Naomi asked.

"Sure. Then I'll slap you too." Alana answered.

"Stop hitting. It's not nice." Elliot said.

"How about I hit you and we'll see how not nice it really is." she threatened.

"Alana! Calm down. You will not slap your brother, Tanner, or Naomi. This is not their fault. If you want to get rid of some anger, go find Uncle Tony and slap him." Dianna said.

She shrugged. "Sounds good to me. I'll be back." she said, leaving.

"Oh crap. This isn't going to end well." I said, following her. I heard my parents talking a few doors down.,

"Tony! Go fix this mess."

"Pepper, I don't know how."

"Well then why aren't you working on it now?" she asked him.

"Because. This is too good." he said.

"Tony!"

"Sorry, sorry. But you have to admit that this is pretty funny."

"Hilarious. Hysterical. I'm laughing so hard." my mom replied dryly.

I laughed. "Naomi? Or Tanner, I guess." My mom said. "Oh and Alana's here too."

"Yep. Dianna told me to smack him. But I'm not going to if you go fix this mess." Alana said, glaring.

"I'll smack you too, Tony. So get your sorry butt out there and switch my kids back." Mom said.

"Okay okay. I'm going!" he said, leaving.

I looked at Alana. "Why are you so upset?" I asked, amused.

She gave me a look. "I can't kiss you until you're back to normal. I'm not even going to touch you until you're back to normal, because that's just weird." She said.

I laughed. "You have a problem with kissing Naomi?" I asked.

"Yes! Wouldn't you have a problem kissing any of your guy friends?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I don't think so."

She raised her eyebrows. "So you would kiss Elliot if I was in his body?" she asked.

I made a face. "I see your point." I agreed.

We walked out into the hallway and Dianna told us to come in the lab. "We can switch you two back to normal now." she said.

"Stand next to each other. We're going to inject something in you two simultaneously." Robert said. We nodded. I'm ready to switch back.

We did as he said, they injected the stuff into us, and then we were back to normal. I grinned, feeling tall again and normal.

I walked over to the mirror and it felt so much better to be in my own body again. I smiled and kissed Alana. "Better?" I asked.

"Much." she agreed, kissing me again.

"Ehem. I'm still here." Dianna said. I glanced over and saw Robert and Naomi kissing as well. "Whatever. I'm going to find Elliot." she grumped, leaving.


	32. I Meant It

**Hey guys! This is some Scarlet and Daniel fluff from before they went back in time, but they were still 17. So this happens a few months before they get together.**

(DANIEL POV)

We got invited to a party at one of our friend's house from school. So the triplets, me, Sofia, and Rebecca are all here, and a bunch of other people we don't really know. Their parents are out on some business trip, so it's a loud party.

This is fairly normal for me and Scarlet, but Sofia and Steven rarely ever come to these, regardless of how often they get invited. They're both too down to earth, but we managed to convince them this time.

I was just hanging out with one of my friends when suddenly Scarlet walked, or more like stumbled, over to me. She doesn't really look okay, I think she might be drunk. But I thought she couldn't get drunk.

"Hi Daniel." she said, smiling widely.

"Are you okay?" I asked, although she's clearly not.

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, twirling a piece of red hair on her finger, still smiling widely.

"How much did you drink?" I asked.

"It was only a little." she said, and I tried really hard not to laugh.

"I'm sure it was. Come on, let's go find your brother." I said.

"Why do we have to find him? He's going to yell at me for drinking too much. Unless it's Josh. Josh is probably drunk too." she whined.

I just grabbed her wrist and pulled her along after me while she babbled about how her parents will kill her if they see her like this, which they will. "Hey Steven?" I asked.

He looked at both of us. "Crap. How much did she drink? Her metabolism should be high enough where she wouldn't really get drunk unless she drinks more than two bottles." he said.

"I don't know how much she drank. We should probably take her home though." I replied.

"Yeah, we'll see. She should go back to normal soon if she doesn't pass out first." he said.

I looked at her and she was glaring at me. "I told you he was going to yell at me."

"Scar, he didn't yell at you." I said. "He didn't even talk to you."

"And now you're yelling at me too!" she yelled, tears filling her eyes. I rolled my eyes.

"Nobody is yelling at you. Can you tell me exactly how much you drank?" I asked her.

"I dunno. I promise I only had a little. I told Becca I wanted to get drunk and she gave me some drink and now I'm here." she said.

I groaned and found Rebecca. "What did you give her?" I asked.

She smirked. "She said she wanted to get drunk, so I gave her some of this drink that my friend from Asgard gave me that's very strong, and I gave her some." she said, shrugging.

I looked at Scarlet, who was drinking something else. "No no no. Stop. Don't drink that." I said, pulling it away from her. She pouted. "And why did you want to get drunk?"

"Because I had a bad day."

"You had a bad day?" I asked incredulously.

She nodded, biting her lip. "I was having a very bad day. I had nobody to talk to and I wanted it to go away, so I asked Rebecca to give me that stuff. Josh uses it sometimes." she said, and I could tell it was wearing off slowly.

That made me really sad. "You could've talked to me." I said.

"No. You're the problem. I mean not you, it's more me, but still you." she said, shaking her head. That confused me slightly. Then she looked at me intensely. "I think I might be in love with you." she said. I froze. She's drunk and has no idea what she's saying. Pull yourself together Daniel. But knowing she probably won't remember any of it tomorrow, I decided to just say it.

"Yeah? I think I might be in love with you too. But we have to get you home right now without your parents seeing you." I said.

"No. I don't want to go home." she said stubbornly.

"Scarlet, you have to. You're not thinking clearly." I said, exasperated.

"I'm thinking fine." she muttered, and then she kissed me. I was very startled, and I kind of wanted to go with it, but that's so wrong on so many levels. I pulled away.

"Scarlet, I'm not kissing you while you're drunk." I said.

"You don't have to kiss back. You could've just let me kiss you." She said, and then I rolled my eyes and grabbed her hand, pulling her behind me. She was protesting but whatever. She's not going to listen.

She reluctantly got into the car and I got into the driver's seat. "Can I drive?" she asked.

"Oh hell no." I said.

"Why not?"

"Because you're drunk. Your parents are already going to kill you, if they find out you were drunk driving, they'll kill me too." I explained.

She laughed. "Do you ever wonder what happens after you die?" she asked.

"Not really. I figure that once I die I'll find out and there's no point trying to figure it out before hand." I said.

"That makes sense." she said quietly. I glanced at her and she was falling asleep. Within a minute she was out cold and I smiled slightly. She's really cute when she's sleeping. That's also slightly creepy on my part.

We got back to the tower. "Scarlet?" I asked. She didn't move. "We're home now." I whispered, shaking her lightly. She still didn't wake up. I'm guessing she's just completely passed out so I picked her up and carried her inside, staying absolutely silent as I passed the common room where some of our parents were hanging out. What are they doing? It's like 3 AM.

I put her down on her bed and was about to leave when she grabbed my wrist. "Thanks." she murmured, and then she let go, going back to sleep.

I smiled and left, closing the door behind me.

"And just what were you doing in there?" Aunt Jade asked me. I jumped.

"Oh um nothing. I swear." I said. How do I do this without getting both of us in trouble?

"You had to have been doing something." she said.

She's a mind reader anyway, so I might as well tell the truth. "Well, she got drunk and passed out so I brought her home and that's about it." I said quickly.

She raised her eyebrows at me, then muttered something under her breath. "Well thanks for taking care of her." she said, then left. I breathed out a sigh of relief. That could have gone much worse.

Then my phone started ringing and it was Sofia. "Daniel where are you? And where's Scarlet?" she demanded.

"Sorry. I kind of forgot about you guys. Can you guys get a ride home?" I asked.

"I hate you. Fine. We might as well just walk. It's not that far." she said.

"Okay. Scarlet kind of passed out. So I didn't really have a choice." I said.

"Yes you did. You're just too in love with her." She said. I rolled my eyes but didn't try denying it. I think at this point everybody knows except for Scarlet herself.

"The adults are hanging out in the common room. Just so you know." I mentioned.

"Thanks. Oh wait, Josh wants to talk to you." I heard her hand the phone over to Josh.

"Hey. Is she okay?" he asked.

"Yeah she's fine. I narrowly avoided being killed by your mom though." I said.

"Can I talk to her?" He asked.

"She's passed out. I left her in her room and when I left, your mom saw me." I said.

"Aww man. I wanted blackmail material." he said. I rolled my eyes.

"Are you drunk too?" I asked.

He laughed. "Haha no. I'm just tired to the point of delusion according to Steven." he said.

I laughed. "Okay. Don't get run over by a car."

"Thanks man. See you soon." he replied, and then he hung up. I sighed and lay down on my bed tiredly. Then I thought about it. When people are drunk, they either say the whole truth, or a total lie. I really kind of hope it was the former in Scarlet's case, but I also highly doubt it. I also highly doubt she'll remember any of tonight's events tomorrow anyway, so even if she had actually meant it, it doesn't matter.

Why do I even feel like this? Girls don't make me flustered or anything. It's just her. It's always been just her. I pushed all thoughts of her out of my mind and went to sleep.

(SCARLET POV)

I woke up with a massive headache and a terrible dizziness. Great. Rebecca warned me I'd have a hangover. But I wanted to do it anyway. I wanted to get drunk and forget about everything for a little while. Truth be told, that stuff wore off pretty fast. I have a faster metabolism than both of my siblings because of my speed combined with the serum.

I know what I said to Daniel last night and I know exactly how he replied. I was still slightly intoxicated, but I was making conscious decisions. I wanted to see how he would react if I told him the truth. And I'm not entirely sure if he replied saying the truth or if he was just saying that flippantly, the way he does to other girls. I kind of hope he wasn't, that he actually meant it, but I also doubt it and don't want to get my hopes up.

I know I kissed him. And that was a stupid move, but then again, the way everyone else sees me, he might just think that I would've kissed anybody. Not just specifically him.

I also wasn't asleep. I was just pretending because I kind of wanted to see what he would do. I kind of wanted him to just hold me in his arms just because I had that opportunity. I knew he would attribute my fast heartbeat to the alcohol, and that's it. I'm not going to lie and say that I didn't enjoy that.

My head is aching.

I only know of one person who will know how to deal with this. I got up, unable to walk in a straight line, and walked across the hall shakily to Josh's room.

I knocked.

"What?" he groaned.

"I need help." I said.

"Don't care. Go away." he said. I thought I heard someone else say something, maybe Rebecca? But I couldn't care less.

"Josh!" I said insistently and he opened the door and glared at me. "Why did you wake me up at like 5 AM?" he asked, annoyed, his eyes not opened. I thought I saw someone else in there, but like I said, I don't care.

"What do I do? My skull is pounding." I said.

"Go take like 5 or 6 Motrin." he said. "Anything else?" he asked.

"No. Go back to sleep." I said.

"Gladly." He muttered, shutting the door. I walked downstairs dizzily, and then turned on the light. It blinded me.

I groaned and dimmed it, grabbing the Motrin from the cabinet and taking 6 pills, downing them quickly.

"Scarlet?" I heard, but my head is too fuzzy to determine who it is. It's a guy, I know that much. The lights turned on and I flinched, closing my eyes. "Are you okay?" It was Daniel, wearing joggers and a t-shirt. I had gotten up and changed into more comfortable clothes after he left last night and was wearing a tank top and fleece pajama pants.

"I'm fine. Can you turn off the lights?" I asked. He did.

"Hangover?" he asked.

"Yeah. This sucks." I muttered.

"I know." he replied.

"You've had one before?" I asked.

He nodded. "A few times, yeah."

I grinned. "Imagine what your mom would say." I said, shaking my head.

"She's not going to find out. And besides, it was only because I was having a bad day." he said, giving me a pointed look. He wants to know if I remember. He's trying to figure it out. I hate his stupid smartness. That's a contradictory statement but whatever.

"Yeah? And did you also have nobody to talk to?" I challenged.

He smirked. "I knew it."

"Knew what?" I asked innocently.

"You know exactly what happened last night." he said.

"You never answered my original question." I pointed out.

"Yeah. I didn't have anyone to talk to." he said.

"You could've talked to me." I said, and I mean it. He could've.

"You were part of the problem." he muttered. I stayed silent at that. Is it possible- no it's not. I can't even pretend.

"Why are you awake?" I asked.

"Couldn't sleep." he said. "How about you?"

"Headache." I replied.

Then we heard some noises. "Scarlet? Daniel?" we heard. It was Brianna.

"Hey Bria. What are you doing awake?" I asked her.

"Heard you guys." she murmured sleepily, then she jumped up and grabbed some cereal from the cabinets and then she got out the milk and was basically sleep eating.

"Well, I guess we have to stay up with her. She can't just wander around by herself." I muttered.

"She can handle herself." Daniel said, watching her as she was eating honey bunches of oats in her sleep. She got that from Aunt Juliana, who, just like my mom, is obsessed with that cereal. I prefer cinnamon toast crunch honestly.

"She probably can. I'm not going back to sleep though. You're welcome to." I said.

"Nah I'll stay up with you." he said. I smiled and grabbed my cereal, and he grabbed some Honey Nut Cheerios. Why I know exactly what his favorite cereal is, I have no clue.

"Eat slowly." he advised. "I know doing anything slow is difficult for you." he said, smirking. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I'm tempted just to eat all of it in less than a second." I said.

He laughed. "It's not going to make _me_ throw up." he said.

"Stop being smart." I told him. He smiled.

"I know. I'm a genius." he said, grinning, showing his perfect teeth.

Brianna looked at us. "Are you two going to kiss?" she asked.

I blushed slightly and I hope he doesn't notice. "No we're not. Why would you ask that?" I asked.

"Mommy says you guys are compatible." she said, going back to eating.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Everyone says that." he said.

"I know. It gets a little annoying." I agreed.

He looked at me intensely suddenly, and I don't know why, but it makes me a little uncomfortable. It's like he's picking apart my brain. His sea green eyes were calculating, staring me down. I did the only thing I know how to do. I stared back, my jade green eyes meeting his. We held each other's stares for a long time, and I don't know when, but at some point both of our gazes had softened considerably.

"You two look like you're going to kiss." Brianna said. We looked at her and she shrugged. "You two were looking at each other all lovey dovey. Tommy says that you two love each other." she said.

"Of course he did." I muttered under my breath.

"Whatever. Come on! Let's go do something." Brianna said excitedly. We had both finished our food, so we decided to roll with it.

(LATER DANIEL POV)

"Scarlet?" I asked quietly. She looked at me.

"Yeah?" she responded. I don't know if I should ask her this, but I need to know.

"Why did you-"

"Scarlet! Daniel! Watch this!" Brianna interrupted. I'm glad that she did, but I'm also not.

She did a backflip successfully. "Wow, that's great Bria! Now try doing that five times in a row without stopping." Scarlet challenged.

"Okay!" Brianna agreed enthusiastically.

"So what were you going to ask?" she asked me.

I shook my head. My momentary burst of idiotic courage is gone now. "Nothing. It's not important." I said. She looked at me skeptically but didn't say anything.

"My head is still aching." she said.

I laughed. "It's your fault. You got drunk." I told her.

"I know. I also made some questionable choices." she muttered.

"I've made a lot of questionable choices when I've been drunk. It doesn't happen often, but when I decide to be an idiot, I go all out." I said.

"What's up with you?" she asked me.

"What?" I asked.

"You're being weird." she said vaguely.

"Why'd you kiss me last night?" I blurted out. Idiot idiot idiot.

She didn't look surprised by that question at all, which makes me wonder if she had been thinking about it. She just shrugged though. "I don't know. I was drunk. Really really drunk."

She's lying. It's so painfully obvious that she's lying, but I'm not going to push it. "I know. I was there." I said, smirking.

"I can't believe it. Oh, also, how did I get to my room last night? I woke up in there and changed because I was uncomfortable." she said.

I cringed internally, but I just shrugged on the outside. "You were passed out so I just carried you inside." I said.

"Thanks." she said quietly. "Did any of our parents catch you?" she asked.

"Your mom did. I told her the truth because I didn't have a choice. She would've have found out anyway, and lying would've been pointless." I said.

"Oh. Am I in trouble?" she asked.

"I don't think so. She just thanked me and left." I said, shrugging. She nodded and leaned her head back on the couch. Then she looked at me.

"Why?"

"Why what?" I asked.

"Why do you care?" she asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I'm confused now.

"Why do you even care about what happens to me? You brought me home and forgot about the others. Why?" she asked.

"Because, Scarlet, you're my best friend." I said, not explaining my true reasoning. That's not a lie either, she is my best friend, but that's not why I dropped everything to bring her home.

"You hesitated." she said quietly, closing her eyes. I didn't respond. We sat in silence for a while before she was asleep, her head falling onto my shoulder. I smiled slightly.

"Daniel?" she whispered, her eyes still closed. "I meant it."


	33. The Genius and the 'Bad Boy'

(ANAYA POV)

I walked up to my friend, Naomi, who's Ironman's daughter. I find that so cool. Her brother is pretty hot, I'll admit. But he's dating Alana, who terrifies me. She has that whole punk thing going on, with the purple hair and the thousand piercings. For some reason the school never got upset at her for violating the dress code, which I find strange. Although maybe it isn't so strange, maybe they're as scared of her as I am.

Speaking of Alana, I've had a crush on her older brother for a long time now. Elliot Garner. I think he has a girlfriend, but I've never met her. He's very hot. He doesn't play any sports for the school, but somehow he's incredibly fit, but not bulky either. He has a very bad boy image. No piercings or tattoos, and I'm not into that, but just the way he carries himself.

"Hey Anaya!" Naomi said, waving her hand in front of me.

"Oh. Hi." I said. She smirked.

"Thinking of my friend again, aren't you?" she asked.

I know what friend she's talking about. "No." I said. She laughed.

"Uhuh. Okay. Sure. I'm friends with his girlfriend you know." she said, smiling. "Come on. I'm starving."

"You eat more than anyone I know yet you manage to stay so skinny. It's not fair." I complained.

She laughed. "It's in my genes." she said, flipping her hair. "Anyway, my friend Dianna has this lunch period today. She's eating with us. She's a senior like us but she skipped a grade like me." she said.

"Cool." I said. We sat down and then a petite girl with long ginger hair and deep sea green eyes came up to us. She's pretty, even though she's not wearing any makeup. She looks so effortless. I've seen her before though. She's the girl that won that science competition thing. And the girl that is going to be our class's valedictorian.

I smiled. "Hi. I'm Anaya." I said. She smiled back.

"I'm Dianna." she said, and just from this first impression I know she's a poster girl for goodness and that all the teachers love her. "Naomi, I have to rant." she said, her accent a mix between british and scottish.

"Oh boy. What about?"

"Elliot. Well not him, just- oh you'll understand." she said.

"You know Elliot?" I asked. Naomi gave me a look, but I don't know why. She laughed.

"Of course I know Elliot. He's my-"

"Hey guys." Erin said, breathless, sitting down next to me, across from Dianna.

"Hi, I'm Dianna." she introduced herself again.

"Hey, Erin." Erin responded.

"That's a pretty name." Dianna commented.

"Thank you!" Erin said.

"Why do you get along with everyone?" Naomi asked Dianna.

"Because Nims, I'm a nice person. You should try it sometime." she said, smiling.

"Oooooooh you just got roasted." Brian said from next to Naomi. We laughed but I'm still thinking. Elliot is Dianna's what?

"That's not very nice."

"I'm selective like that. Anyway, back to my rant." she said, but then Emilia showed up and sat on the other side of Dianna.

"Oh it's a new person! I'm Emilia!" she said, her usual bubbly self.

"I'm Dianna. Nice to meet you."

"Okay guys. I have to tell you something."

"Does it have to do with Jason?" Erin asked. Dianna raised her eyebrows.

"Yes." Emelia said, smiling. She's a junior.

"Okay. Go on." I said.

"He's so-" she sighed and we all rolled our eyes. This is nothing new.

"Jade will punch you if she hears you saying that." Dianna informed her.

"She doesn't care. I've told her this so many times." Naomi said.

Dianna shrugged. "So as I was saying-"

"You guys know that Elliot is dating someone that goes to this school? Tanner said so, and he's dating his sister." Emelia said, interrupting without meaning to. It's one of her bad habits.

"Yes actually-" Dianna started.

"I'm Tanner's twin and I told you this already, yet you didn't believe me." Naomi said.

"Who is he dating?" I asked, my interest piqued. Dianna gave me a calculating look, like she was examining my brain. It's a little terrifying.

"Why do you care?" Dianna asked, her voice challenging.

The look on both her and Naomi's face told me I shouldn't say the truth. "Um, I was wondering." I said.

She smiled sweetly. "You're lying." she said. How did she know?

"Anyway, he's dating another senior who's my age, so a junior. I forgot her name, all I know is that it's totally unexpected. She's a straight A student." Emelia continued.

"Straight A+ student." Dianna cut in.

"How do you know?" I asked. Maybe Dianna likes Elliot? "Do you have a crush on Elliot or something?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes. Yes, I do." she said, not hesitating at all. My jaw dropped.

"Guys! This is important gossip. So basically, according to Alana, this girl is short ish, has green eyes, and is deadly smart." Erin said.

"I'm-" Dianna started, but Emelia cut her off.

"Oh there's more. They live together. This girl is apparently a certified genius, with a super high IQ, I think it was 161 or something, which is really good."

"163. The score was 163." Dianna said, smirking.

"That's the world record though!" I protested, and how does she know?

"Yup. My friend's a smarty pants. I got a 162, Robert got a 162, and Tanner got a 162 as well, if that means anything." Naomi said. Our jaws dropped.

"No way." Erin said.

"Yeah. We're smart kids."

"Have you taken an IQ test Dianna?" Emelia asked.

"Yes, I have."

"What's your score?"

"163." she said, giving us looks.

"NO WAY. Only Elliot's mystery girlfriend has that score." I said.

She rolled her eyes frustratedly. "I _am_ Elliot's girlfriend. Why do you guys even care? Do _you_ like him, Anaya? Sounds like it. He's _mine._ My IQ score is 163. I live with him. I live with Naomi, Tanner, Alana, Robert, Johnny, Sarah, Jade, Jason, Juliana, and Jack as well. I am a straight A+ student, and yes, I do like Elliot, in fact, I love him." she snapped, annoyed.

Our jaws dropped. Naomi smirked and Dianna sighed. "I apologize. This was actually what I was going to rant about earlier. I'm not actually upset." she said.

"Man. You guys are good. Even with all my pranks she doesn't get upset or yell or raise her voice. The only person she's ever yelled at is Elliot and that was when she was on her period." Naomi said, laughing.

"Excuse you. I don't think it was necessary to share that information." Dianna said.

Naomi grinned cheekily. "I think I have something Elliot would _love_ to hear." she said, holding up her phone.

"NAOMI STARK." Dianna said, giving her a stern look. "Give me that right now." she said.

"It's really hard to take you seriously." Naomi said, getting up and taking the phone with her. Dianna got up and then Naomi started running. She ran into her brother and handed him the phone. "Get that to your future brother in-law. NOW. Not Robert! The other one!" she told him. I can't believe she just suggested that. She basically just said that Tanner is going to marry Alana and she's going to marry Robert. I mean, they are couples, but high school relationships don't last.

He rolled his eyes and was about to hand that to Elliot when Dianna snatched it away. Elliot looked at the Stark twins curiously. "You want to see it. I promise you." Naomi said.

"Okay." he said, standing up and looking at Dianna, who glared at him.

"No. You're not seeing this. As soon as I figure out her passcode, I'm deleting it." she said.

"What is it?" he asked her. She rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to see it." she said.

He smirked and tickled her. She laughed and batted away his hands. "Go _away._ " she protested. He laughed and took the phone from her. She tried snatching it back but then he held it up high and watched it. She huffed and jumped on his back, seeing as she's over a foot shorter than him, and took the phone back, but he had seen all of it already. He looked at her over his shoulder as she deleted it quickly and smirked.

"Shut up." she muttered.

"I didn't say anything." he said, grinning. This is the most I've seen him smiling at once.

"Oh whatever. How did you figure out her passcode?" She asked him.

"Easy. Naomi's pretty um- self absorbed, so I knew the first three digits. 687, which are her initials, and then she is so hopelessly in love with Robert that his initials are the last three digits, 742." He said.

"I would've figured that out eventually." Dianna said, smiling. "But I'm proud of you, you used deductive reasoning."

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks." he said dryly. "Are you going to get down anytime soon?" he asked.

She rested her chin on his shoulder. "Nope." She said, popping the 'p'.

I can't believe it. Out of all the people he could be dating, it's her. I can't even hate her. She's too nice and friendly and sweet, so I can't even sabotage their relationship. And they look so happy, so I'm not going to do anything.

"Well, I have to go to class, and you do too, so I suppose I'll get off." she said reluctantly, jumping down.

"I'll see you later." he said.

"Mmkay. I love you. Can you try in your math class? Please?" she asked.

"I love you too. And fine. Because you said please." he said cheekily. She hit his arm lightly.

"I mean it, grades are important." she said, smiling.

"Okay mom." he said, and she smiled. He pecked her on the lips and then left.

I feel a little like a stalker but whatever. I'm not doing anything wrong. Everyone else is watching too.

Dianna walked back towards us, smiling. She smiled at me too, although I had expected her not to.

"Question? How'd you end up with Elliot, I mean, he gives off those bad boy vibes and you're a goodie two shoes. No offense." Erin asked.

Dianna laughed. "Elliot? Bad boy? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. He's anything but. And besides, I'm not a goodie two shoes. I can kill you slowly and painfully in approximately 74 different ways." she said, smiling cheerfully. I was taken aback by that.

"Also, Anaya, I understand you having a crush on Elliot. As long as you don't do anything, I couldn't care less who you like. And I don't think you'll try anything. You don't seem like that kind of person." she said, smiling, and then she left before I could respond.


	34. Ellianna

**Hello everyone! Here's the chapter with how Dianna and Elliot got together. They basically had elementary school crushes on each other, you know, where they would constantly bicker even though they secretly love each other. Also, I'm definitely Sarah in this situation. Oh fine, ALL situations when my ships sail. Also, I was supposed to watch civil war today but plans changed and I'm soooooooo disappointed because I really wanted to watch it. I'm probably going to watch it on wednesday, so that's good. Anywho, enjoy! :)**

Dianna and Elliot: Age 15 and 16

(ELLIOT POV)

Dianna walked in the room where we were all sitting and scanned the room, her gaze lingering on me longer than the others, or maybe that was my imagination. "Looking for someone?" Robert asked her, looking amused.

"No." she replied, sitting down next to Alana, who whispered something in her ear that made her blush.

"Elliot? Hello?" Jason said from next to me.

"Oh. Sorry." I replied.

"You're so hopelessly in love with her. Why don't you just say something?" he asked me.

"As if you're one to talk. You and Jade can't be apart for more than a minute. If anyone is hopelessly in love, it's you." I told him.

He smirked. "Yeah, but I don't try and deny it." he said.

"I don't like anyone, much less love them."

"Yes you do. You like Dianna. It's so obvious." he said. Truth is, he's spot on. But she isn't interested. And besides, I'm older than she is.

"You're older by a year Elliot. It's not that bad." Jade said, sitting next to Jason.

I made a face. "I don't like her." I insisted.

"You don't like who?" Dianna asked, looking at me.

I looked at her. "Nobody. That's the point." I replied.

"Oh really? You're a terrible liar." she said.

"How would you know?" I asked.

"Every person has at least 1 physical sign of lying that is displayed. You have 22, for the record." She said coolly, staring at me intensely.

"You've been paying attention, haven't you?" I asked. "Who do you like, Dianna?" I asked, smirking.

She scoffed. "Nobody." she said, but she was blushing.

"You're a terrible liar." I mocked.

"Being a good liar is not a desirable trait. I don't aim to be dishonest. Do you?" she snapped back.

"You're avoiding my question." I said.

"You're avoiding mine." she replied.

"Oh just make out already." Naomi said, popping some gum, leaning back on the couch.

"Ellie and Dianna, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Alana sang. I want to strangle her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dianna asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "It means they ship us. But that ridiculous." I said.

She's snorted. "As if that ship would ever sail." she added.

"You guys are annoying." I told everyone.

"Immature." She agreed.

"Are you agreeing with me?" I asked her.

"Yes Elliot, try to keep up." Dianna sniped.

"Jeez. Not all of us have genius parents."

"My genius doesn't come from my parents, thank you very much."

"Oh really?"

"Really. Intelligence is not hereditary." she said.

"Well, your intelligence comes from the fact that you basically were raised in the lab."

"No it doesn't. I could just as easily have been entirely uninterested in my parents work as I am interested." she said.

"Yeah, but since you were always there, you were influenced by your parent's unhealthy obsession with science." I said.

"It's not _unhealthy_. It's healthier than shooting around a bunch of guns." she said.

"Is it really? Because I'm exercising by doing that, and I don't really think that sitting at a desk is exercise." I said.

"That's not exercise." she scoffed.

"I bet you couldn't fire a gun." I challenged her.

"I bet I could. It's simple physics really."

"No it's not. It's not science. It's just shooting a gun." I said, giving her a look.

"Nonsense. Everything is science." she said.

"We'll see." I replied, smirking. We walked downstairs, just she and I, and Naomi, because she's convinced we're going to kiss and she wants to see it. As if.

"Look. You just aim and shoot. It's simple." I said, then I demonstrated.

She examined me as I did it, her eyes analyzing my every movement. I won't admit it, but she has really pretty eyes. I shook myself and shot. I hit the bullseye.

I handed her the gun. She looked surprised. "It's heavier than it looks." she observed.

"Yeah? It's made out of metal." I snarked. She gave me a look.

"This one is actually made of a carbon compound." she said.

"How would you know?"

"It's called science honey." she said crisply, aiming the gun.

She shot and the gun almost hit her in the face and she yelled, dropping it. The bullet completely missed the target. "It's called recoil honey." I taunted. She glared at me.

"You didn't show any signs of recoil." she said, crossing her arms and stepping towards me.

"Because I was prepared for it." I replied, stepping towards her.

"But your muscles would've tensed. They didn't." she said.

"Hold it. I told you already. It's not science. It's just shooting a gun." I said.

She leaned in closer. "Oh you think you're all that, don't you? You're not. You don't use your brain."

"Says who? I use my brain enough to counter every point you make. I use my brain enough to argue with you logically." I said, also leaning in.

"Says me. You would rather stand there shooting a gun at a target that did nothing to you than do something beneficial." she snapped.

"It's to prepare us so that we can shoot at people who did do something to us. And I wouldn't call experimenting all day on things that don't matter beneficial." I snapped back. We stared at each other for a while. She has really nice cheekbones. Damnit Elliot, stop it.

"Oh what the hell." Naomi muttered. "You two are impossible. I have inside sources who know of both your feelings and you two like each other." she said, leaving, and then she did something I wasn't expecting. She locked the door behind her.

"JARVIS, unlock the door." I said.

"I'm under orders from Ms. Stark not to, Mr. Garner." JARVIS replied.

"Well this should be fun." I muttered, walking away from her and grabbing my own gun.

I aimed at the moving targets and shot, bullet after bullet. I'm going to ignore the other person in this room, because it could go one of two ways. Either we'd kill each other, or I'd end up kissing her. Both of which won't be good.

"Ignoring me isn't going to work you know." she said.

"Why not?" I asked, aiming my gun again.

"Do you actually hate me?" she demanded. I froze. _No I don't. I like you quite a lot actually._ I thought, but I can't say that.

"No. I don't." I said, shooting.

"Then why do you always argue with me?" she asked. I aimed again.

"You're the one that argues with me." I said. I shot.

Suddenly the gun was ripped out of my hands and she shot at the target, this time hitting the bullseye. "It's out of bullets. Now pay attention to the conversation and stop pretending you don't care." she said, annoyed.

"How did you-"

"It's science. I told you already." she said. "And anyway, back on topic. I think you do hate me."

"I don't." I said. "Do you?"

"No. I don't hate you."

"Why do we always argue then?" I asked.

"I don't know." she replied.

"Wow. _You,_ the great Dianna Fitzsimmons, doesn't know something?" I teased, leaning against the wall.

"Shut up." she replied. "I don't understand you, you know." She leaned back against the wall next to me, staring straight ahead. "And don't make some snarky joke about how I don't understand something. I don't understand lots of things. That's what science is about." she said.

"Science is about not understanding things?" I asked, confused.

"No Elliot. Science is about trying to understand things. For example. The gun. I've never shot one before, but through trial and error, I hit the bullseye." she said.

"You know, fighting isn't just about kicking and punching. It takes years sometimes, to get a move right. I don't know if you knew this, actually, I don't think anyone knows this except for Jason, my parents, and Alana, but I'm Dyslexic and I have ADHD. School is hard for me. Fighting is easier for me, because I'm always paying attention to everything, so when I need to, I notice people's weaknesses." I said. She looked at me a little shocked. I'm a little shocked too. I didn't plan on saying any of that.

"Why doesn't anyone else know about this?" she asked.

"Because. It's not important. And besides, I don't want anyone to treat me differently because of it. My English teacher used to grade me less harshly on spelling and stuff. I don't want that. It's not fair to everyone else." I said nonchalantly. She looked at me with that calculating look.

"I think I understand you perfectly." she said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah? Care to enlighten me?" I asked.

"You don't have control in most situations. When you're trying to read or write, you can't do it the way others can. When you try to focus, you can't. With fighting, not being able to focus is a good thing. Being able to think outside of the box is a good thing. It gives you control." she said.

Well, she has me figured out perfectly, but that means she has been paying attention to me. "I think you missed something." I said, thinking twice about what I was about to say. If I'm wrong, well, that'll be embarrassing. But my dad's a therapist, so I think I've got this.

She smirked slightly. "Really?"

"Di, I've liked you for a while now. And you like me back." I said. She grinned.

"I didn't miss that. I just didn't mention it." she said, and then she kissed me. My brain just went into overdrive.

I kissed her back, resting my hand on her waist lightly.

"I KNEW IT!" Sarah said excitedly. We broke apart and stared at her.

"I ship it. Oh my god. I ship it so muchhhh. And now it's canon! Oh my god!" she said, practically jumping in excitement.

"It's not that big of a deal." Dianna muttered.

"Hold up! My plan worked?!" Naomi asked. "I really am a genius. Tanner, Alana, pay up." she said, holding out her hand to my sister and her brother. They grumbled and placed some money in hers and Robert's hands.

"You guys were placing bets on us?" I asked.

"Yup. So now you guys are officially together!" Jason said, grinning. "I told you so. You looovvvveeeeee her." he teased me.

"What's your ship name?" Alana mused. "Delliot? Ellianna?"

"I for one like Ellianna." Dianna said, smirking.

"You're encouraging this?" I asked incredulously. She nodded and Alana smirked.

"Sisters before misters." she said, putting her arm around Dianna. I rolled my eyes.

"You're _my_ sister. Not hers." I said. "Because if she's your sister that makes her my sister which is just plain weird." I said.

"Of course that's what you focus on." Tanner said, grinning.

"Yup."

"So, when's the Ellianna wedding?" Sarah asked.

My jaw dropped "What?!"


	35. BROTP

**This, my friends, is the bromance of Elliot and Jason over the years. I've been wanting to write this for a while. The ship name is Jelliot, because it works in reference to the idea I had created, which you'll see later. Also, Nat is 10 years older than Jason, so when she's 31, Jason is 21 and Elliot is 22. This is now the longest story I've written! YAY! Enjoy! :)**

Elliot and Jason: Ages Vary

(JADE POV, AGE 13)

I searched the hallways looking for Jason. He disappeared a while ago.

"Hey Sarah? Have you seen Jason?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "No."

"Okay. Let me know if you see him." I said, leaving. I walked into the common room. "Hey Nims, have you seen Jason?" I asked her.

"Nope. Tanner, have you?" she asked her brother who walked in after me.

"No idea where he is." he said.

I walked out and into the kitchen. "Johnny, have you seen Jason?" I asked.

"No I haven't." he replied.

I left the kitchen and headed into the living room. "Have you seen Jason?" I asked my mom, who was talking to Aunty Mel.

"No I haven't." she replied.

"Have you seen Elliot?" Aunty Mel asked. I shook my head and left.

I bumped into Alana. "Have you seen Jason? Or Elliot?" I asked.

"Nope. Hey mom! If Ellie has disappeared can I have his allowance added on to mine?" she yelled.

"No!" her mom replied. Alana shrugged.

"It was worth a try." she said. I laughed and then it dawned on me.

Both Elliot and Jason are missing. That means they're probably together.

I walked upstairs and knocked on Jason's bedroom door. When he didn't answer I just opened it, because it was unlocked. Nobody was in there, but I heard some laughing from the vents, so I climbed up and followed the voices of the two boys.

Then I saw the two of them laughing their heads off at something very funny apparently, when they noticed me.

"Hey red, look at this." Jason said.

"I've been looking for you all day! Where have you been?" I demanded.

"Right here." He said.

"You're so annoying. I just spent an hour trying to find you because your mom wanted you for something and you're here doing god knows what!" I said, thoroughly annoyed.

"Look at this. It's tumblr. Uncle Tony showed it to us. They ship _everything_." Jase said, laughing again.

"Look, they ship Jack and Juliana." Elliot said.

"Oh no. That's not okay." I muttered.

"They also ship her with you?!" Elliot said incredulously, looking at Jase.

"She's eleven! And dating Jack! And Jase is dating her sister!" I protested.

"Bro. Look at this!" Jase said, disgusted.

"Ewwwwwwwww. Philinda?!" Elliot said.

"Oh god. Clintasha?" I asked, joining them.

"Brutasha?" Jase asked.

"Stony?!" Elliot asked.

"Stucky? Well, actually, I ship that too." I said.

"You ship your dad with his childhood best friend?" Jase asked me.

"Yes, yes I do." I replied.

"Oh my god." Elliot said, his eyes bugging out of their sockets.

"Jelliot?!" Jase asked. "Me and you?"

"Sweet." Elliot said, smirking.

"I ship it." I agreed, looking at my boyfriend.

"Me too. Jelliot is the real thing." Jase said.

"Oh wait a minute. Bro, you're in two canon ships." Elliot pointed out.

"Sorry Red. I think I have to leave you for Elliot." Jase said. I smirked.

"I'm willing to share. Poor Elliot needs some love because he refuses to ask out Dianna." I said. He stuck his tongue out at me.

"See, I don't think the fandom is okay with that." Elliot said.

"Oh right. We don't want to cross the fandom." I said, shuddering. "You can keep him." I decided, leaving.

"Oh my god! Red! They're insane! They ship you and Alana!" he called after me.

"Oh god no." I muttered. They laughed and I exited the vents.

(ALANA POV, AGE 15)

I went searching for Elliot. As much as I hate to admit it, I need advice. He gives pretty good advice, surprisingly.

I walked in his room to find him sitting on the couch on his phone, smiling.

"Who are you texting?" I asked.

"Jason." he said. I rolled my eyes.

"He's literally a few floors down."

"That's so many stairs." He whined.

"There's an elevator." I replied. He laughed.

"So what's up?" he asked.

"I have to tell you something first. You know Jade might just kill you soon, right?"

"Why would she do that?"

"You're basically stealing Jason from her."

"No I'm not." He said, smiling amusedly.

"Yeah you are. I sometimes think he's cheating on Jade with you. Just imagine. Jade would have both your heads." I said cracking up.

"Yeah yeah." he muttered.

"What's this about Red having his head?" Jason asked.

"See what I mean?" I asked.

"No." They both responded.

"Never mind." I said. "Well Jason, you can give me advice too." I relented.

"Advice on what?" Elliot asked.

"How does the male adolescent's brain work?" I asked.

"Did Tanner do something?" Elliot asked immediately.

I laughed. "No. His sixteenth birthday is coming up next week." I said.

"Turning sixteen does nothing except make you eligible for adult prisons. If you ask me, ages 16-18 is the worst time ever. You're old enough to be punished like an adult but too young to have the privileges of adults." Jason said. "double standards."

"True. But I still need to get him something. He literally has everything he wants. His dad is a billionaire, and he has me. What more could he ask for?" I asked.

"Good point. I'm glad I'm single. I don't have to worry about all this." Elliot said.

"Excuse you." I said. "You're not single. Why would you say you're single in front of your boyfriend?"

"Yeah Elliot. How could you?" Jason asked.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know we were an item." Elliot replied.

"It's okay."

"The bromance. Oh my god." I said. "You guys are my BROTP." I said.

"Um no." Jason said, "I was kidding. Ew."

(DIANNA POV, AGE 19)

"Elliot?" I asked. I'm seven months pregnant and not enjoying it. Jade is even worse off than I am, as she's due in a few weeks. And she's having triplets. Daniel on the other hand, well, he's active in there.

Elliot still hasn't responded, so I got up, struggling, and walked into the kitchen where I thought I heard him.

He was standing there, face timing Jason. "Bro. I promise. Get the Cadbury one. It's the one Dianna loves." he told him. "Can you actually grab a bar for her too?"

"Yeah. She's been taking all of my chocolate. She also wants pickles. She _hates_ pickles." Jason complained.

"She also has three children in her uterus, _your_ children, mind you. So I wouldn't complain." I snapped.

"Um okay. I was kidding." Jason said, sounding amused.

"Boys." I muttered.

"Anyway, I'm going to pay. I'll be back soon." He said.

"Okay. See you later."

"Bye."

"Elliot." I said dangerously. He looked at me.

"Yes?" he asked innocently.

"You and Jason are insufferable." I said, annoyed.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You care more about each other than you do about us." I accused.

He smiled slightly. "No we don't. I was telling him what to get so Jade doesn't kill him." he said.

"And how would you know that Jade and I like the same chocolate?" I demanded.

"Because I saw you guys eating it last night." he said, smirking.

"Oh. I'm so tired. Yelling at you is hard work." I said.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"I know you are." I replied. "Can you make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?" I asked.

"Sure." he replied, "do you want strawberry or grape?" he asked.

"Strawberry please." I said. He started making it when he accidentally knocked the jelly on the floor, and it splattered all over the kitchen. The Jason walked in, didn't notice the jelly from how exhausted he looked, and slipped on it, landing on his back and kicking Elliot, who landed on top of him.

"Oh my god. It's a Jelliot sandwich. Made out of strawberry Jelliot!" I said, cracking up from where I was, safe behind the counter.

(NATALIE POV, AGE 31)

I was looking for Elliot and Jason, who agreed to watch all the kids today. That includes the triplets, Daniel, Riley, and Nina.

I need to tell them exactly what to do in any and all circumstances.

"No way. I ship Scaniel. All the way." Elliot said.

"I'm not arguing with you. They're meant to be." Jason replied.

"Literally." Elliot muttered.

I came inside and crossed my arms. "Is this what you two do when you're babysitting?" I asked.

"Uh, no?" Jason replied.

"Seriously? You ship your kids together?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Riley is going to get with that kid, what's his name? Xavier?" Elliot said.

"Oh she loves Xavier." Jason said, laughing.

"You two are so immature. This is why we have Dianna and Jade to watch over you." I said.

"Where are they going anyway?" Jason asked.

"Alana is forcing them to go bra shopping. Something about how they promised 4 years ago." I said, smirking as they went red.

"Oh. Where are you going?" He asked.

"Eddie and I are going on a date." I said, laughing as he pulled a face.

"Why? You're already married." he said.

"Yeah. With a six year old child who loves to jump on us at the worst times." I said, rolling my eyes.

"What about Sarah and Johnny?" Elliot asked.

"Nope. Them and Jack and Juliana are going to Aunt Laura's parents house. You two are stuck with each other and the kids until 11."

"Why are Jade, Alana and Dianna going to be gone for that long?" Jason asked.

"I don't know. They deserve a break though. Especially Jade. She has three kids with Superpowers. Alana is pregnant, and Dianna has Daniel, who is the equivalent of five children."

"We help you know." Elliot grumbled.

"You two love each other more than you love them." I chastised.

"Not true. Elliot gets annoying." Jason said.

"And Jade doesn't?" Elliot asked.

"No." he said, shrugging.

"Of course not. You two don't even talk to each other, you just make out and do other things if you're not watching the kids. Unless it's night. Then you guys don't shut up." Elliot grumbled.

"Is somebody jealous?" I teased.

"Nat!" They both protested. I laughed and walked out of the room.

"JELLIOT IS MY BROTP!" I yelled. They consecutively groaned.

(JADE POV, AGE 22)

My eyes widened as Jason got on one knee, pulling something out from behind him.

"Red, you've always been there for me, even when I haven't always been there for you. You're honestly the best thing that's ever happened to me, ever. I can't imagine life without you, well, I wouldn't have a life without you. I love you more than you'll ever know. Jade Elizabeth Rogers, will you marry me?" he asked. I smiled brightly and kissed him. "I'll take that as a yes?" he asked cheekily, getting up as I pulled away. He slipped the ring onto my finger.

"You're such a doofus." I told him.

He smirked. "But I'm your doofus. And you're stuck with me. We'll be bound in holy matrimony for the rest of our lives." he said.

I laughed. "You don't even know what that means." I told him.

"No I don't." he replied, kissing me. I put my arms around his neck. For once, the kids aren't around. Nat and Eddie offered to watch them for a while. He pulled me closer, his hands on my hips.

And then, of course, we got interrupted. Because when don't we get interrupted? Elliot walked in, and then saw us and raised his eyebrows. "You did it didn't you?" he asked.

"Yup." Jase replied.

"Took you long enough. Honestly you guys should've just gotten married at age 2. You would've had parent consent, no doubt." Elliot said.

"I'm surprised you knew and didn't try to sabotage the proposal." I teased Elliot.

"Oh ha ha." he said dryly. "I still love him, even if he doesn't return my sentiments." he said dramatically.

"Okayyyyyyy. Well, I'm going to let you two have your moment." I said, smirking.

"Oh no. He's leaving. Isn't he?" Jase said, giving Elliot a look.

Elliot smirked. "Me? Leave? That's ridiculous."

"Go away." I told him. He nodded and left.


	36. Parent's Night Out

**Guys, this is basically just Jadason fluff because in their story it's basically all angst at the moment and I need more fluff so I'm writing this. Enjoy! :)**

Jade and Jason: Age 24

(JADE POV)

"Mommy! Steven hit me!" Josh yelled.

"Josh hit me first!" Steven yelled.

"Daniel's being annoying!" Scarlet yelled. I looked at Jase tiredly.

"Can you handle Scarlet and Daniel? I'll talk to the boys." I said. He sighed and nodded.

"Boys, you can't hit each other, okay? If you have a problem, you resolve it with words." I told them. Five year old boys are a pain, but I still love them to death.

"Okay. Steven's a butt head." Josh said.

"Josh is a poopface." Steven replied.

"Not those kind of words. You do not talk to anybody that way, understood? I meant, you talk about the problem, and then find a way to solve it. Now why were you hitting each other?" I asked.

"He started it!" They both said.

"I don't care who started it. I want to know what the problem is." I said calmly.

"I wanted to play with the blocks, but Steven was using all of them." Josh said.

"I was building an architectural masterpiece." Steven defended. Typical. Leave it to Steven to build a Lego 'architectural masterpiece' at age 5.

I sighed. "Okay. Steven, you need to share the toys. They're not just for you. And Josh, there's another bin of Legos right over there." I said.

"But it's so far away." Josh complained.

"It's not that far. You can play over there. If you two can't play nicely, then don't play together." I said. I got up and walked over to the couch, lying down on it and staring at the ceiling. I need a break. I love my kids, don't get me wrong, but there's three of them and they rarely get along. On top of that, they're the same age and play with the same toys, and they're constantly fighting over them. They're always competing for our attention and in order for it to be fair, we have to pay equal attention to all of them. That means we have to read three different bedtime stories, make three different lunches and dinners, watch all three of them ride their bikes or does handsprings or whatever else they learned to do that day. And then we have to watch it again.

I didn't sleep much last night, as Josh and Steven were getting into another argument and Steven wrote a freaking essay on why they should get separate rooms. And they will get separate rooms, but for now they're sharing, as it's so much easier to put them all to sleep in one room that's directly across from ours. But can we go back to the fact that Steven wrote a page full of facts about why separate rooms would be better for them? For them, not for us.

I let my eyes shut, hoping for a few minutes to power nap, but I knew that in 3-2-1-

"MAMAAAA!" Yup. There it is. My little mini-me. I sighed and didn't open my eyes.

"Ask your dad to deal with it." I said.

"But mama, I want you to help me." Scarlet insisted.

"Your dad can do it."

"His hair's not long enough" she whined.

"Fine. Can you do it while I'm sleeping?" I asked, not thinking clearly.

"Mmhmm." she replied.

"Go for it." I murmured, going to sleep.

I woke up a while later and my head was sore and it felt like my hair was being pulled out of it's roots. I stood up, albeit with a headache, and walked to the bathroom, not bothering to shut the door.

I looked in the mirror and groaned. Jase walked in and looked at me amused. "You let her do your hair?" he asked.

"I didn't know that's what she wanted to do!" I complained. My hair is in at least seven tight braids sticking up at various angles. I took one out, and it was super painful. "Can you help?" I asked him. He nodded and helped me pull one out, but I grit my teeth in pain. He winced and stopped.

"No, just get it over with." I told him. He did and after half an hour, it was all done. I sighed in relief and massaged my scalp afterwards.

He looked at me in the mirror. "We need a break." he said.

I nodded and leaned back against him. "I'm going to just pass out one of these days. Motherhood is the most difficult thing I've been through." I said tiredly.

"Really? Is it?" he asked.

"No. But it's up there." I said. He laughed.

"We should go out. Get our parents to watch the kids for a night." he said.

"Let's do it." I agreed.

(LATER)

I got ready and put on my heels, then looked in the mirror. I look good, not to brag or anything. But to be fair, having triplets messed me up big time. I mean, I didn't lose all the weight immediately, which was a bummer, but on the bright side, I didn't get my period for three years after they were born. Dianna told me that's perfectly normal in the triplet scenario.

It took me four years to get my body looking normal again, and then, I kept losing more weight because I couldn't keep up with the kids and my own needs. So now that I'm finally feeling back to normal five years later, well, it feels good.

I had never been insecure about my looks before I got pregnant. But then again, I've never really had to worry about it. The serum kept in me in shape without me even trying. I guess pregnancy and serum don't mix well, and nobody else would know, as the only other person older than me who has the serum is my dad, who's a guy and can't get pregnant. Oh, and Aria, but she doesn't have kids.

Once I got pregnant and started gaining weight, I felt really insecure about it, even though I knew it was ridiculous. Now though, my six pack is back and it feels great.

Jase walked out of the bathroom and smiled at me. "You look great." he said.

"You don't look too bad yourself." I replied, smirking. He laughed. We got into one of the cars.

"Let's hope this one doesn't break down and that it doesn't start raining." I said, referencing all the times we went out as teenagers only to be met with that fate. I don't know how many times we've had to push home one of these cars. Honestly, you would think we'd have functioning cars.

"That would be bad. I actually like this suit." he said.

"I like it too. And this dress costed me a lot of money. And I don't even wear dresses." I said. He laughed and we were silent for a few moments, savoring the silence and peace.

"Jase, will the kids be okay? I mean, we don't leave them alone that often and-"

"Relax Red. They're with their grandparents. And everyone else is there too." he said.

"But what if something happens? Maybe I should call and check on them." I said, pulling out my phone.

Jase looked at me. "We've been gone for five minutes-"

"Six minutes." I muttered.

"-nothing has happened to them. They're going to be fine. Just relax." he continued as if I hadn't corrected his timing.

"Okay." I agreed reluctantly, putting my phone away.

"Did you leave the list of foods they can and can't eat with their allergies and everything on the counter?" I asked after a few seconds.

"I left it on the table." he replied.

"What if they can't find it?" I panicked, pulling out my phone again. Jase grabbed my hand and I looked at him.

"The kids will be fine. Nothing's going to happen to them in the next few hours we're gone. They will live, and you need a break. So stop worrying." he said. I sighed.

"You're right. I can't help it though. What if they take them outside and Scarlet runs off? You know how my dad is always trying to get them to go outside." I said.

He stopped the car. "Jase, you can't stop the car here-"

"Do you want to go home?" he asked.

"What? No."

"Are you sure? Because I can turn the car around now if you want." he said.

"No. No, let's go. You're holding up traffic." I told him.

"Are you totally positive?" he asked again.

"Yes! People are honking at you! Move!" I told him. He did so and I gave him a look.

"And what was that?" I asked.

"The kids will be absolutely fine without you for one night. Your dad won't take them outside when it's dark out and he's not crazy anyway. Besides, I'm pretty sure Uncle Tony put a little tracker device on that bracelet she always wears." he said.

"But-"

"I told you, we can go home." he said, and he sounded genuine.

"No. No, you're right. They'll live." I said, leaning my head back against my seat. I hate this. I spend so much time around them that I need time away from them, and when I get my time away I can't help but worry about them constantly. They better turn out good, they're causing me a hell of a lot of stress.

We parked at the restaurant and were lead to our table. It was a very fancy restaurant but to be quite honest I'm still worrying.

"Jase, what if-"

"No. The kids will be fine. No more what ifs." he said, looking me in the eyes.

"Okay. Okay. I just can't help it. It's not my fault." I said.

"I know it's not. And for the record, I think it's kind of cute." he said.

I gave him a look. "You find my stress cute?" I asked.

He laughed. "Well when you put it that way I sound like a jerk. No, I don't find your stress cute. The kids are the center of your world. Tell me, when's the last time you've done anything without them in mind?" he asked.

I thought for a moment. "Probably before they were born. Actually, scratch that, I was thinking about them before I even got pregnant." I said.

"Right. How are you doing, you know, with Charlie and Miranda-" He started, but stopped abruptly when he saw me stiffen. "Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No no. I'm fine. It's just, Sofia. Where is she? We have to find her." I said. And then I got a phone call.

"Elliot? Why are you calling?" I asked him.

"What? No hi? Nothing?" he asked. I rolled my eyes.

"You're my husband's boyfriend, so yeah, I'm wondering why you're calling me." I replied. Jase smirked at that.

"Yeah, okay, so basically Scarlet and Daniel might have been fighting and Daniel may have hit her and she may or may not be crying insistently. We tried everything." he said, and I blanched.

"Oh god. Give her the phone. Actually, she might break it. Just put me on speaker." I said.

"Well thanks for letting me know before I handed the crying five year old super soldier my very expensive phone." he said.

I rolled my eyes again. "Scarlet, can you stop crying please?" I asked her.

"Mama?" she asked, sniffling.

"Yes sweetie. I'm here. Why are you crying?" I asked her. I know for a fact that Daniel can't exactly hurt her.

"Daniel's mean. Can you come home now?" she asked. Jase gave me a look, probably knowing what Scarlet asked. He's right though. I do need a break. I can't be there every single time somebody hurts their feelings.

"I'll be home soon. Why don't you play with Marisa right now?" I asked her.

"Why'd you leave us?" she asked. I really wanted to cave and just go home, but I held my ground.

"I'll be home very soon, okay? Maybe if you and your brothers behave I'll get you shawarma tomorrow." I said.

"Kid troubles?" The waiter asked, giving us our drinks. Jase responded somehow, I didn't hear.

"Really?" Scarlet asked excitedly.

"Yes. I have to go now, okay? I love you."

"I love you too." she said. "Bye!" she said.

"Bye Scarlet."

"Awww. That's cute." I heard Elliot say.

"Oh shut up Ellie." I said. The waiter gave me an odd look.

"Hey!" he protested. "Well, enjoy your dinner." he said.

"Thanks. Bye." I said, and then I hung up. I looked at the waiter who was still looking at us oddly. "I wasn't telling my daughter to shut up. I was telling that to my friend who's watching her currently." I said.

His expression relaxed and he nodded. He probably thought we were crazy. He took our orders and left. Then Jase got a call.

"Hello? Naomi? Yeah . . ."

I gave him a look.

"He'll survive without us for one night. Can you tell him to read on his own?" he continued. "Why don't you read to him?" "Tell him we'll be home soon." "Yeah. Bye. Thanks." he said. He hung up and and looked at me tiredly.

"Steven wanted us to come home to read with him. He refuses to do it with Naomi and told her she's incompetent." he said. I laughed.

"Classic Steven." I said.

"She also said he disappeared but-"

"What?!" I asked loudly, causing everyone to look at us oddly.

"Calm down. They'll find him. JARVIS can find his heat signature." he said.

I groaned. "Why did we ever think it was a good idea to have super powered kids?" I asked, leaning back in my ridiculously fancy chair.

Jase smiled slightly. "We didn't." he replied.

"Right. Remind me why we went through with it?"

"It wasn't on purpose." he said, laughing.

"Oh god. You know what. If anyone else calls tonight, I'm going to ignore them." I decided.

"Good plan." he agreed. Our food came to the table.

"This all looks so good." I said.

"Will you need any boxes?" The waiter asked.

"No, thank you." Jase said. He left and Jase looked at me.

"He's going to think we're so weird when all the food is gone in a few minutes." he said.

"I don't care. I'm hungry and under stress, so that means I'm going to stress eat." I replied.

"Yeah? You're sure you're not worrying about the kids still?" he asked.

"Of course I'm not." I said. That's a lie. Whatever. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"If you say so." he said. Then he tensed suddenly. "Three armed people just walked in. At your 6, 9, and 3." he whispered.

I rolled my eyes. "Stupid stupid stupid. Can't we have one night of peace?" I replied just as quiet, done with life. "Two more, your five and seven." I said. He looked at me.

"Act normal. Finish eating. Then we take them out quietly without causing a scene." he said.

"I love how the food is your priority." I said, smirking.

"Obviously." he replied. And that's what we did, we ate, and we talked, and then a gunshot rang out.

I ducked as it came by from my three o clock.

"Everyone out!" Jase shouted, pulling out his gun. I pulled out mine as well. Where I was concealing a gun while wearing a skin tight dress and heels, I will never reveal.

People were flooding out and there are more hostiles here than we noticed.

Then my phone rang. Thinking it might be important, I picked up. "Dad? I'm kind of busy." I said, holding the phone by by neck while still shooting and ducking and fighting.

"Jade, there's a situation-"

"I know. I'm there." I cut him off.

"Seriously? And you're not murdering me? We couldnt find the kids and tracked them to the restaurant on sixth street."

"Dad! I will murder you later. Never mind I see them. Go home." I said.

"What was your situation? Was that a gunshot?" he asked.

"Yes it was a gunshot." I said. I saw them there, wearing pajamas, looking horrified. Someone went at them, seeing how my eyes widened when I saw them.

I grit my teeth. Nobody touches my babies. But before I got there, Jase did. He shot them down quickly and grabbed the kids. I really wanted to run over there and make sure they're all okay and safe, because they're my husband and kids, of course I would rather make sure they're all okay.

But Jase is taking them to safety right now and I just finished off the last guy so the authorities can take care of the guys. The NYPD came up to me and I showed my badge.

"Agent Rogers from SHIELD." I introduced.

"Thank you for taking care of this for us, but don't you think this is a bit menial of a task for SHIELD?" The officer asked me.

"Oh no, we weren't here on a job. I was actually dining here with my husband. We just did what we had to do." I said, smiling.

"Well thank you." she said. I smiled and left, going straight back into panic mode.

"Are you guys okay? What were you doing? Why did you leave the house?" I asked the kids, who were staring at me with big watery eyes.

"They're okay. But I think we need an explanation. Why did you leave the house?" Jase asked them.

"We missed you." Josh said, hugging my knees. I picked him up.

"I understand that, but we can't be there all the time and you can't run away like that. It's dangerous without any adults with you." I said, upset with them. I know they're five, but I expected better.

"Mama, why were you and daddy fighting those people?" Scarlet asked, her eyes wide.

I looked at Jase. He can answer. "Well, there are bad people in the world. Our job is to stop those bad people from doing bad things." He explained.

"Oh. So like not sharing." Steven said.

"Well, not exactly. These people are very bad all the time. Not sharing is something small, and it's bad, but it doesn't make you a bad person." I said.

"Oh. Were you shooting guns?" Josh asked.

"Why don't we go home now?" Jase suggested hastily.

"That's probably a good idea." I agreed, putting Josh down. "Come on guys." I said. They walked in front of us towards the car, as I need to keep a constant eye on these three from now on. The booster seats are all still here, and they all got in and we buckled them.

We got in the front seat and I could feel the panic settling in. What if they had been seriously hurt? There were guns. And they're five. I don't think I would survive if anything happened to them. They're probably going to be severely traumatized by this. I should never have gone out. This is my fault. I'm their mom, I should've sucked it up and dealt with the stress.

"Are you guys sure you're okay?" I asked.

"Yeah." Came the simultaneous reply.

"Did you get hurt?"

"No."

"Are you 1000% sure?"

"Mommy, you can't be 1000% sure-"

"Steven, not now." I said tiredly, slamming my head back against the seat.

"Kids, what you just did is not good. You made everyone very worried. You could've waited until we got home." Jase told them.

They looked at him. "But we didn't know when you were gonna come home." Scarlet said.

"Is Josh back there?" I asked suddenly. Usually he would've said something by this point. I turned my head back quickly and saw him fast asleep in his seat, and I relaxed. "And your dad is right. You made everyone scared and concerned. The world is dangerous, okay? What if you had gotten hurt? You cannot run away like that."

"We're sorry." Scarlet said. I slumped down in my seat and closed my eyes, exhausted. Jase grabbed my hand. "Are you okay?"

"Let's just go home and forget this ever happened." I murmured, just about ready to fall asleep right here.

"Mommy?" Steven asked quietly.

"Yes?" I didn't open my eyes.

"I love you." he said. I think I just melted a little inside.

"I love you more." I replied.

"I love you the most." He said.

"I love you more than the most."

"That's not possible." he argued.

"Yes it is. I love you all more than you can imagine. That's why you have to listen to us when we tell you things, okay? We don't ever want you guys to get hurt."

"Okay." he agreed. I'm guessing Scarlet is asleep too. I looked back, and sure enough, Scarlet and Josh were asleep, and Steven was getting there.

I sighed and closed my eyes again. "I just want to go to sleep."

"Well we're home now." he said. I got out of the car and grabbed Steven, and Jase grabbed Scarlet and Josh. I'll get them settled and then I need to go yell at everyone.

I put Steven down and walked out back to the common room where I assume everyone is. My dad was pacing around the room. I crossed my arms.

"Are the kids okay?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. They're fine. Mildly traumatized because they just saw their parents firing guns, but fine." I said sarcastically.

"What even happened over there?"

"It wasn't our issue. We just happened to be there before the cops got there." I said. "But that's not the point. How did they manage to slip past all of you?" I asked.

"One of them can turn invisible and another one can run at the speed of light, and you're asking us?" Elliot asked.

"So you got outsmarted by three five year olds." I summed up, annoyed. "Why the hell would you even take your eyes off of them? And seriously, you couldn't deal with them for just two hours? You just had to call. If Scarlet was crying all you had to do was just bribe her with Shawarma and she would've stopped. If Steven called you incompetent all you had to do was talk to him about science or something." I said, annoyed.

"Jade-"

"No. They could've gotten lost, or gotten hurt, or gotten shot at! What then? I'm never leaving them with you guys ever again. For gods sake people. They're five." I rampaged. "I can't believe you. Maybe he's right, maybe you're all incompetent if you couldn't watch three kids for two hours without them running away."

"We're sorry. We thought they were sleeping." Naomi said.

"Okay. Whatever. I'm going to sleep." I muttered, leaving, all my energy entirely gone.

I bumped into Jase when I was walking back to our room and he grabbed my shoulders, and I snapped my head up, startled. "Are you okay?"

I sighed. "I'll be fine. I just need to go to sleep."

"Yeah. Let's go." he agreed. I washed off my makeup and slipped out of my dress, throwing on a t-shirt and shorts and climbed into the bed. Jase got in next to me and I turned on my side so I was facing him.

"You know, I really do love them a lot." I said quietly.

"I know."

"But is it bad that I want them to just disappear for a few hours? Because even when I try to take a break I can't help but worry about them. I need to sleep and eat and be sane." I whispered, feeling so guilty for confessing this.

"It's not bad at all. I would be going insane if I had to do what you do." he said.

Then we heard the door open and little footsteps coming towards us. I groaned silently as they climbed on top of us, elbowing me.

I guess they thought we were asleep because they sprawled out on top of us and continued sleeping.

Jase smiled at me and I smiled back. I love my family


	37. Breakfast gone bad

**This is just some family fluff. the triplets are 18, Julia is 1.5, and Jade and Jason are 37. Enjoy!**

(THIRD PERSON POV)

"Psst! Steven, wake up!" Josh whispered loudly into his brother's ear.

"Mmgh. Go away." Steven grumbled.

"STEVENNNNN." Josh whisper-screamed.

Steven threw a pillow at him. "I said, go away."

"It's mom and dad's birthday today. We have to make them breakfast in bed dummy. Get up." Josh said.

"We don't have to do anything. Go away." he mumbled, pulling a pillow over his head.

Josh pulled the blanket off of him and he groaned.

"Josh! It's cold." he groaned, curling up into a ball. He was just wearing his boxers.

"Get up."

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!" Josh yelled, summoning a ton of cold water and dumping it on his brother.

Steven yelped and jumped out of the bed, glaring at his brother angrily.

"Come on, let's go get Scarlet, so she can help me beat you up." he muttered, grabbing some pants and a shirt and putting them on.

They walked into Scarlet's room and she was there. But someone else was there too.

It was Daniel, and Josh and Steven did not know whether they were clothed under the covers or not.

"Scarlet? Oh my god. Mom would kill you if she found out." Josh said," laughing.

Scarlet snapped her eyes open and screamed, causing Daniel to snap up.

"Oh my god! Get out!" She yelled, her face going red.

Steven laughed. "I can't believe you two. Seriously. In the room right next to our parents." he said, shaking his head.

"Get the hell out of my room!" Scarlet yelled, mad.

"I'm going back to sleep." Daniel muttered, lying back down and closing his eyes.

"You're not much help."

"I don't care." Daniel replied.

"Josh. Steven. I'm not wearing clothes. GET. OUT." she said.

"Today is mom and dad's birthday. We have to make them breakfast in bed." Josh said.

"What? Okay fine. Just let me get dressed first. Leave please." she said, glaring.

"You're not going to make Daniel leave?" Steven teased, grinning.

"What? No." She said, going red. Josh and Steven were having fun with this.

"Why ever not?" Josh asked.

"You guys are stupid." Daniel grunted, throwing a pillow at them.

"You know why not." Scarlet muttered.

"No I don't." Steven said, feigning innocence.

"For god's sake. He's not wearing clothes either. And do you need me to spell out what that means too? It means it's nothing he hasn't seen before so it doesn't matter." Scarlet said, pissed off. "Now get the hell out."

"Okay okay!" Josh said, laughing.

"We're going." Steven said, laughing as well. The brothers high fived then left.

Scarlet got ready and joined them outside.

"I hate you both." she muttered, still flushed.

"You love us." Steven replied.

"And besides, we wouldn't be your brothers if we didn't make fun of you all the time." Josh said, as the both out their arms around her.

She crossed her arms and grumbled. "Stop touching me."

"Do you think mom and dad know?" Josh asked Steven above Scarlet's head, ignoring her.

"Mom's a mind reader. What do you think?" Steven replied.

"Hm you're right." Josh said.

"Oh come on! Like you haven't done anything like that with your girlfriends!" she protested.

"Yeah, but you didn't walk in, did you?"

"I actually hate both of you." she muttered, walking away and grabbing the flour and sugar out of the pantry.

"Do you know how to make any breakfast foods?" Josh asked.

Scarlet glared at him. "You're kidding?"

"What? No, I'm not."

"You woke me up and you don't even know how to make breakfast?!"

"Oh come on. I thought we could wing it." Josh said.

Steven crossed his arms. "You're an idiot, you know that?"

"You're the smart one, not me." Josh replied.

"Let's just make the stupid waffles." Scarlet said.

"Alright, so we probably need eggs and milk." Steven said.

"Just look up a recipe." Josh said.

"Duh. Why didn't I think of that?" Scarlet asked.

"You're not the smart one either." Josh replied. She rolled her eyes.

They got out the stand mixer and proceeded to add in the dry ingredients.

Josh turned on the mixer as scarlet was standing right in front of it, and he turned it extra high o accident, causing flour to fly up and cover scarlet in white powder.

She gasped as Steven and josh started cracking f up. "Oh. My. God!" She said, grabbing an egg in each hand and cracking them one handed on each of their heads.

They gasped themselves. "SCARLET!" Steve protested, grabbing the butter and throwing it at her. she dodged it and grabbed some vanilla extract, splashing some at him.

Josh grabbed the milk and dumped it on their heads.

Then Steven, mad, turned around and threw some more flour at josh.

Scarlet threw some more butter at them, causing josh to slip and Steven to trip over him. His legs slid forward and tripped scarlet and they ended up on a pile on the kitchen floor, laughing hysterically.

Then Steve walked in. "What is going on here?" he asked.

"Oh hey grandpa. We were going to make mom and dad breakfast in bed because it's their birthday, but we kind of got sidetracked." Josh said.

"It's Scarlet's fault." Steven said.

"Oh please! This is Josh's fault. He started it."

"No! It's your fault! Everything is always your fault." Josh said to scarlet.

"What? That's so dumb." Scarlet said.

"I don't care who's fault it is. Come on, get up." he said.

"Grandpa, you never had siblings did you?" Scarlet asked.

"No, I didn't."

"Lucky." she muttered, flicking her hands off on top of her brothers who had yet to get up.

Steven and Josh stood up, wiping the food out of their faces.

"You guys are going to clean this up, right?" Steve asked them.

Then all of them heard voices coming from the hall. "Can you believe we've been together for 25 years?" Jade asked, her voice getting lifer as they approached.

"I know. And the triplets are all grown up now. They're 18, jeez." Jason agreed.

"It's crazy. They're actually mature adults-" Jade cut herself off as she saw said triplets standing in the kitchen, covered in food.

"You spoke too soon." Jason told her, shaking his head.

Julia started laughing at her older siblings from Jade's arms. "Mama look." She said, grinning with her little two front teeth.

"I know. Aren't they so silly?" Jade replied, glaring at her older children.

"If it helps, we were going to make breakfast in bed for you." Josh said.

"Looks appetizing." Jason commented, pulling out the high chair. Jade put Julia in the high chair, then looked at them crossly.

"You guys are adults now. You should act like it." she said.

"But mom, it's the intention that matters." Scarlet said.

"Clean it up." she said.

"Mom, shouldn't josh clean it up? It was his idea and he woke us up." Steven said.

"Yeah, I was sleeping really well before you woke me up." she said.

"That's probably because of what you were doing before you fell asleep." Josh muttered. Scarlet punched his arm. "Ow! Scarlet! That hurt!"

"That was the point Joshua." she said.

"Ohh using the full name, it's serious now." Jason said, laughing.

Jade turned and gave him a look. "Aren't you 37?" she asked.

"I am mentally 5." he replied.

She sighed. "Dad. How did I end up in this situation?"

"It's your fault." Steve replied, walking out, laughing. Jade rolled her eyes.

Jason walked to the fridge to get Julia her breakfast and slipped on some sludge, getting dirty himself.

Julia started laughing again. "Mama, look at Daddy! He fell down!"

"Thanks kid. I feel the love." Jason said, getting up.

"Here, let me give my old man a hand." Josh said, reaching out his hand.

Jason rolled his eyes and got up himself. "I'm at my prime, thank you very much."

Then Scarlet came up and hugged him. "Scarlet. What are you doing?"

"What? I can't hug my dad on his birthday?" she asked.

Josh and Steven caught on, giving Jason hugs as well. "Yeah, we just love you so much." Steven said.

Jade and Julia stood by laughing. "Mama, can I go hug Daddy?" Julia asked.

"No sweetie, you can hug him after he showers." she replied, trying to stifle a laugh.

"Red, a little help?" Jason asked.

"I'd rather not get into that mess." she told him.

He grinned, whispering something to the kids who nodded, letting him go. He then started walking up to Jade, who backed up. "No no no. Hold it mister. You're not touching me until you shower." she said.

He backed her into a corner, hugging her tightly. She screamed. "JASE! Get off of me! Gross!" she yelled.

"What, I can't hug my wife on her birthday?" he asked innocently.

"Ugh. Jase." she complained.

"I just love you so so much." he told her, kissing her cheek. She wrinkled her nose and groaned.

Julia just kept laughing. Steven walked up to her and picked her up, hugging her tightly. "Tevie no!" she squealed, squirming.

"You're just my favorite little sister in the whole world." she said. She giggled.

"Hey!" Scarlet protested. "I'm your favorite. She's second." she said.

Steven looked at her. "Nah, she's still cute." he decided.

She gasped, mockingly offended. Julia stuck her tongue out. "Haha. I'm Tevie's favorite." she said.

"Fine. I see. Nobody loves me." Scarlet said, pretending to wipe away her tears.

"Don't worry Scar. I love you." Josh said, hugging her from behind.

"JOSH!" she yelled, feeling the sticky mess getting into her hair.

"Do I even want to know?" Daniel asked, sighing.

Scarlet looked at him.

"Help me! Daniel!" she pleaded.

He snickered. "I think I'd rather watch."


	38. Misunderstandings

**Hello everyone! This chapter is triplet fluff because I just love writing it. Enjoy! :)**

(STEVEN POV)

I came downstairs to the training room to see Josh going at a punching bag furiously. A soaking wet Rebecca walked up the stairs past me. "See if you can talk to him. I don't know what his deal is." she said, leaving.

"Hey. What happened?" I asked him.

He didn't stop punching, his eyes trained on the bag.

"Nothing happened." he said.

"Come on. Clearly something happened." I said.

"Nothing happened." he said, whirling around and glaring at me.

"Wanna spar?" I asked.

He looked kind of surprised but shrugged. "Sure." he said. We got into our stances and he threw a punch at me. I blocked it and aimed an uppercut at his stomach. He blocked that too.

"So why are you so angry?" I asked.

"People are stupid." he said.

"Which people?" I asked, jumping as he sweep kicked under my legs.

"Everyone." he grumbled, aiming a punch.

"Even me? Even Rebecca?" I asked, going invisible and sneaking up on him from behind. He saw that coming and kicked me in the stomach. I fell but popped back up, kicking him in the side.

"Not you two, no." he said, punching my arm.

"Then who?" I asked.

"Me." he said. That caught me off guard and I fell when he kicked me. He held out his hand, and I grabbed it, getting up.

He made no move to continue the fight, so I crossed my arms. "What does that mean?" I asked.

"I messed up." was all he said, unwrapping his hands. I gave him a look.

"How so?"

"Are you here to interrogate me?" he asked.

"No. I'm not."

"Then what are you trying to do?"

"Get you to talk. And you didn't answer my question." I said.

He sighed and sat down on the bench. "I'm not going to talk." he replied.

"You can't shut down." I told him.

"I can. And I am." he said shortly.

"What's your problem?" I asked.

"What's your problem?" he asked in return. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"I don't have one." I replied. "But you do."

"I told you. I messed up, badly." he said, not looking at me.

"Josh, that means nothing to me unless I know how you messed up."

"Promise you won't get mad?"

"I never get mad."

"Fine. So basically, I blew up the school water fountain and somebody slipped on it and ended up with a broken leg." he said.

I thought about it. He thought I would get mad, which means it's somebody I care about a lot, because I really don't get mad easily. There was only one person in our grade that would've been with him at the time that I haven't seen yet today. Sofia. "It was Sofia wasn't it?" I asked, shaking my head.

"You're not mad?" he asked.

"No. I'm pissed off. Why did you blow up the water fountain?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"You don't sound mad." he said.

"Trust me, I'm angry enough right now. But I can't let myself be angry with you until I know why you blew up the water fountain." I replied.

"Can you not be so logical? Can't you just yell or scream or something?" he asked.

"You don't want me to yell at you." I said.

"Yes I do. I do want you to yell at me. I want you to say what you think instead of staring at me emotionlessly. I can never get a read on you, you know that?" he said.

"You didn't answer my question." I said calmly.

"Fine. They were saying some really awful things about Scarlet and apparently they didn't realize I was her brother and then, it was a total accident, but the water fountain exploded." he said.

"What were they saying about Scarlet?" I asked.

"I'd really rather not repeat it." he muttered.

"I'm not mad at you Josh. It was an accident. She'll get better. I'm mad at those girls that thought they could insult our sister and get away with it. Did they at least slip too?" I asked.

"Yeah. Well, the water kinda shot them in the faces. So yeah." he said, smirking.

"Nice." I replied, smirking back.

"I still think you should yell more often." Josh told me.

"Why? If I had yelled at you just now, all logical reasoning would've been abandoned and I wouldn't have come to the conclusion that I did." I pointed out.

"Good point." he said.

(SCARLET POV)

Daniel walked in my room and I looked at him. "The door was shut." I said.

"I know." he said, smirking, sitting next to me.

"What if I had been changing or something?" I asked.

"I've seen it before." he said, grinning. "And besides, you would have locked the door."

"True. Why are you here?" I asked.

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked, laughing.

"No. I'm bored." I said.

"What happened today?" he asked. I ignored him.

"You want to watch something?" I asked, not addressing his question. I grabbed my phone and started scrolling through my recommended list on Netflix.

"Scar. What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing happened." I replied.

"You literally ran out of the building and didn't come back." he said, giving me a look.

"And?"

"And, something is wrong." he said, taking the phone away from me. I glared at him.

"Everything's fine." I said, looking down.

"Clearly." he said sarcastically.

"Just leave it alone Daniel." I said.

"If you really want me to leave it alone, I will. But I don't think that's what you want." he said.

"You're right. You're right. I just overheard some things." I said.

"What did you hear?" he asked me. I don't really want to tell him, because despite how irrational it might be, I'm afraid that he might believe it.

"They were saying that I sleep around even though I'm with you and I don't. I never have. And that wouldn't bother me, but Josh was just standing there listening to them saying these things. He didn't say anything." I said nonchalantly. I honestly never saw it coming. I mean, I thought the three of us were close, but I guess if he was standing there listening to that, then he doesn't care as much as I though he did.

"I'm sure he did say something after you left. You probably didn't stick around to hear it." he said.

"For god's sake Daniel. He's my brother. We came from the same freaking egg. He has a short fuse too. I would hope it didn't take that long for him to get upset at them." I snapped. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you." I apologized after I took a deep breath.

"It's okay. Why don't you ask him?" He said.

"I don't want to talk to him." I replied.

"He's your brother. You can't just ignore him.

"I can and I will. He'll figure it out eventually." I said stubbornly.

"I still think you should find out what happened exactly before you decide to shun him." Daniel said, looking at me.

"I'll ask my mom or something." I said. I'm not going to budge on this one.

"Okay." he relented.

(LATER)

I walked into the kitchen and Josh and Steven were there. They both greeted me, but I ignored Josh. "Hi Steven." I said. They both looked at me confused and Daniel gave me a look.

"Did I do something?" Josh asked, confused. I didn't acknowledge him.

"Hey Josh! Can you come over here for a second?" I heard our mom call.

"Yeah mom. One second." he said. He gave me an odd look then left.

"Why are you ignoring him?" Steven asked.

"He just stood there as some other girls were insulting me immensely and said nothing, didn't argue with them, didn't get them to shut up, nothing. He just stayed silent." I said.

Steven laughed. He laughed. "This isn't a laughing matter." I told him.

"I'm sorry. I know it's not. But he didn't just stand there. He accidentally blew up the water and it sprayed at them but then Sofia slipped on the water and she broke her leg. He did do something." he said.

I looked at him shocked. "-oh." I said, opening my mouth and then having nothing else to say.

"I told you so." Daniel said. I glared at him.

"Shut up." I replied. He laughed.

"Yeah. He thought I was going to be mad at him." Steven said.

"You're not?" I asked.

"No. It was an accident. And besides, he at least drenched those other girls." Steven said.

"Why are you always so calm?" I asked. He smirked.

"It's a gift." he replied.

"No it's not." I gasped. "You're a robot!" I decided.

He and Daniel laughed. "That's funny, but no."

"I disagree. I'm going to go ask mom."

"Ask me what?" My mom asked, walking in.

"Is Steven a robot?" I asked.

She started laughing. "No honey. Steven is not a robot."

"Are you 100% sure? Because they say that some people hallucinate during childbirth."

"You just made that up." Steven told me.

"Did not." I replied.

"I promise I didn't hallucinate. I spent 38 hours in labor. He took the longest, 24 hours. You took 6 hours, and Josh took 8 hours." she said.

"I'm never having kids." I decided right then. "You're okay with that right?" I asked Daniel. "Because if you're not, I don't really care." I said.

He didn't look like he knew how to respond to that one. "Scarlet, you're going to scare him off." My mom told me.

I rolled my eyes. "No I'm not. Right Daniel?" I asked.

He just nodded. "Right." he said. "Not scaring me at all." He muttered. I laughed and patted his shoulder lightly.

"Good." I said, smiling. "Where's Josh?" I asked.

"Are you going to apologize?" Steven asked.

"Yes." I said, walking out to find him. As much as I hate both of my idiot brothers, I can't have josh beating himself up over this.

I found him in the common room. "Why are you moping around?" I asked.

He raised his eyebrows at me. "So you're not pissed off anymore?"

"No. I thought you just stood there listening to them say those things, but apparently right after I left you blew up a water fountain in their faces." I said.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, you could've handled that better. But oh well. It's okay."

"It's not though. I broke Sofia's leg." he said.

"No you didn't. Don't flatter yourself. You're not capable of that dummy. What happened was a pure accident. You're a kid. You can't blame yourself for losing control over your powers sometimes, and you can't blame yourself for what happened as a result of it. And anyway, Sofia has super soldier serum in her blood because apparently her dad was a super solider so she'll be fine in a week." I said.

He sat down and looked at me. "I've had my powers my whole life. You would think I'd know how to control them."

I shrugged and sat next to him. "In gym class the other day some idiot told me that because I'm a girl I wouldn't be able to beat him in a race so I accidentally ran using my powers and started a fire on the track." I said.

His jaw dropped. "You didn't."

"I did. One girl got a minor burn."

"One time I was so embarrassed because of something I said that I disappeared. Like I actually went invisible and they were all freaked out and didn't know where I went and called the police and everything." Steven said, walking in. "They put the building on lockdown and one kid had a panic attack." He sat on the other side of Josh.

"Having powers sucks." Josh decided.

"I knowww." Steven and I agreed.

"Look, as much as what happened to Sofia today sucks, it could've been worse. And you shouldn't blame yourself for it." Steven told him.

"Yeah, but-"

"Shut up." I cut him off.

"Scar-"

"Stop." Steven cut him off.

"Stev-"

"Can you take the hint and drop it?" I cut him off again.

"I hate you both." he groaned.

"We love you too." I said, hugging him.

"Yeah, I guess so." Steven agreed. I hit his head. "Ow!"

"Dummies. The both of you." I muttered. Steven laughed and joined the group hug.

"Awww Jase look at that." I heard my mom say.

We looked at our parents, annoyed. They're ruining the moment. Then they come and join us. Why world why?!

"How cute. One big loving family." Daniel said.

"Daniel Garner I swear to all things sacred and holy if you take a goddamn picture I will murder you." I threatened. He laughed and did it anyway. I got up and tried grabbing his phone, but he kept it out of my reach.

"I hate you." I said.

"You love me."

"No, I don't, give me the phone." I said, reaching for it.

He kissed my cheek. "Okay, here." He said, handing it to me.

I looked at him skeptically, keeping my eyes on him as I deleted the picture.

He was smirking, and I don't like that smirk at all. I checked his messages and he had sent it to everyone! I'll never delete that! Ever!

"Oh my god! I actually hate you." I groaned, giving him the phone back.

He laughed and grinned. "You keep saying that but it's alright. That was so touching and sweet. I mean, I can feel the love between you and your siblings-"

"Daniel." I said, looking at him dangerously.

He blanched. "I'm just gonna go." he said, backing out slowly.

My dad put his arm around me. "He's right you know. You all love each other."

I wrinkled my nose. "Ew. Those two buffoons? Please."

"Yeah dad. Be realistic. Scarlets a snob and Josh is annoying." Steven agreed, scoffing.

"For real. Don't be ridiculous. Steven is a nerd and Scarlet has anger management issues." Josh said, and then the three of us walked out together, leaving our parents behind us looking dumbfounded.


	39. Touche

**Hello Peoples! Sorry again for the long wait! This is just a short snippet with Steven and Scarlet when they're in college. ENjoy! :)**

(SCARLET POV)

I walked into the coffee shop on campus and got in line. I'm supposed to meet Steven here in a little bit and then he and I are going to go back to the tower. He and I moved out because we're going to college. Josh is training to be an Olympic swimmer, which I think is cheating, but anyway, he still lives in the tower. Daniel goes to school an hour away from the tower and two hours away from me, so we just go back to the tower on weekends to see each other. It's kind of a middle point.

It was my turn in line. "Hi, how can I help you?" the barista asked.

I gave him my order and he smiled. "Name and number?" he asked.

"You don't need my number. The name is Scarlet." I said, giving him a weird look. I'm not sure if he's new or hitting on me.

"But can I have your number?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "No thanks, I'm good." I replied, walking away.

I went to the area to wait for my cup and a few minutes later he switched off with another person and walked over to me. I groaned internally. I know I'm hot, but for real?

"I think we went to the same high school." he said.

I resisted rolling my eyes again. "No we didn't." I replied.

"How do you know?"

"Because I dated every guy in my high school except for a handful." I said. "And those that I didn't date weren't hot enough." I know I sound obnoxious, but hopefully it'll get him to leave. And anyway, I trapped him. If he continues with this he's admitting that he's ugly, and he looks like he has a delicate ego.

"Well, I wish we went to the same high school." he said. Then Steven came up behind me. "Is this your boyfriend?" the barista asked.

"Yes. Can I have my coffee now?" I asked. He handed me my coffee and I walked out, and Steven followed, confused.

"What just happened?" he asked.

"He was hitting on me. I just said you were my boyfriend so he'd stop." I said.

"Come on, my car is over there." he said.

I nodded and got in the passenger's seat. "How's life?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "Eh. Could be better. There's this girl in my chemistry class that keeps trying to get with me even though I told her I have girlfriend multiple times. And then for some reason my Basic Psych professor hates me." he said.

"Do you need me to come to your chem class and pretend to be your girlfriend?" I asked, laughing. It works out well because he and I look absolutely nothing alike, so nobody knows we're siblings, much less two out of a three set, unless we tell them.

"Please." he agreed, shaking his head. "She won't let it go."

"Man. It's our fault you know. We're just a good looking family." I said.

He groaned. "I know. It sucks." he said.

"Speak for yourself. I like being hot."

"Well, aren't you modest?" he said sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm gorgeous and I like to flaunt it. It's not like you and Josh don't do the same." I said.

He gave me a look. "I don't."

"Yeah you do. You hate swimming. You only do it so you can show off your abs." I said.

He rolled his eyes. "You're so dumb. I swim because it's good exercise." he said.

I snorted. "Sureee Steven. We don't even have to work out. We stay in shape without even trying." I said.

He scoffed but had no reply to that. "Well, whatever. I do it anyway."

"Ha! I told you so." I said, grinning.

"I hate you so much."

"Love you too bro." I replied, reaching up and ruffling his hair, to which he swatted my hand away. I laughed.

"Hey, and you're one to talk. I mean, remember that time when we got in trouble with the cops and you tried to flirt your way out of it?"

"Touche brother, touche."


	40. Revealed Emotions

**Hello everyone! Here's a long one for you. This take places when the triplets and Daniel are 17 but it's before Daniel and Scarlet get together. Enjoy! :)**

(Random girl named Leanne POV)

Daniel and I have been going out for a month, which I hear is a record. At first, I was pretty sure it wasn't going to last, and I was bracing myself to find him with another girl at any given time.

But as I get to know him better, I can't help but feel like he's too nice to do that, even though all logic is telling me he's done it before. I don't think he's a mean-spirited person either. I don't think he gets a kick out of breaking hearts.

"Hey Leanne." he said breathlessly, finally picking up the phone.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Nothing. Just trying to run from Maria." he said.

"Who's Maria?" I asked curiously.

"My cousin."

"Really?" I asked. I hate to be one of those skeptical people, but he knows I have the right to be.

"Yeah. She's 15. She's my dad's sister's daughter." he said, not sounding bothered in the least.

"Alright. Why were you running?"

"She was chasing after me with a can of pink spray on hair dye." he said.

I laughed. "I want to meet her." I said.

"Oh god no." he replied, "no way. You two will team up on me and commit murder on my hair." he said.

"That's the point." I heard someone say into the phone.

"Maria, go away." he said.

"Okay, _Danny_." she said mockingly.

"She's so annoying." he muttered. "So what's up?"

"Nothing much. We're going to Ira's party tonight right?"

"Yeah. I might be carpooling with a bunch of people but we can come pick you up." he said.

"Alright. 9 then?"

"Yeah. Hey, my mom said she has to talk to me, which is never good. I'll call you later." he said.

"Sounds good. Bye." I said.

"Bye."

(LATER, SCARLET POV)

Now we're going to pick up Daniel's girlfriend. Ugh. It's so hard to hate her because she's so sweet but I can't help it. I'm going single because I just broke up with my boyfriend a few days ago. He'll be there but it's not like I care.

We got to her house and Daniel texted her. She came out a minute later and got in, sitting on the other side of Daniel. And as much as I hate to say it, she looked hot. Josh and Rebecca called the front seats so Daniel and I sat in the back. Steven and Sofia are coming by themselves because they want to leave before everyone gets high or drunk or both.

"Hey." She said, kissing him lightly. I could feel my blood boiling. Josh grinned at me and I kicked the back of his seat.

"Ow Scarlet! What was that for?!" he asked.

"Drive." I said shortly.

Daniel looked at me confused and I just ignored him, smiling at Leanne. "Hi. You're Leanne right?" I asked.

"Yeah. And you are?"

"I'm Scarlet. Josh and Steven's sister." I said.

"Oh okay. Steven was in my AP chemistry class freshman year I think." she said.

Damn. She's smart too? Not fair.

"Really? That's cool. You look cute by the way." I said.

She smiled. "Thanks. You do too."

Rebecca glanced at me confused in the mirror, and I smiled at her.

"We're here." Josh said. We all got out but before I could go in Josh grabbed my arm.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're acting weird. Go home if you have to. Don't get drunk. You'll screw up." he said.

I shrugged. "I'll be fine. I'll run home if I have to." I muttered. He just gave me a skeptical look, but then shrugged and walked in after them. I walked in as well.

(LATER)

Oh no. Oh no no no. I see ex boyfriend walking up to me. And he's not sober.

"Hey Scarlet." he slurred.

"Heyyy Brendan." I muttered, edging away from him.

"You look really good." he said.

"And you look really drunk." I replied. "Go away. We're over. Done. Not together anymore." I said.

"I know. I was just wondering, why did you dump me? Was it for Daniel?" he whispered, smirking. "I can go tell him now." he said.

"No you can't. I will snap your fingers off if you do that." I threatened.

He chuckled. "You can't do that. You're tiny."

I glared at him. "Get away from me Brendan."

"Nope." he replied, backing me into a corner. Then he kissed me.

(DANIEL POV)

I was talking to Leanne and some others when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Brendan backing Scarlet into a corner. I kept my eye on them just to be sure, although I know she can take care of herself. I also know Josh is watching her like a hawk. I don't know why though.

Then Brendan kissed her, _touched_ her, and her eyes widened, and she was about to push him away and probably slap him when Josh came and pulled him away roughly.

"Stay away from her. Got it?" he said threateningly. Everyone else went quiet and Brendan nodded frantically. Josh let him go and he left immediately.

My blood was boiling as he passed us.

Leanne looked at me. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I said.

"You look mad."

"I'm fine. I promise."

(JOSH POV)

"I can take care of myself you know." she said.

"You weren't."

"I had a delayed reaction."

"Come on. Don't give me that excuse. You have freaking super speed." I said.

"Whatever." she muttered.

"Come on. Let's go home." I said.

She glared at me. "No. You don't tell me what to do."

"You're being immature. Come on." I said. She crossed her arms and followed me out.

She got in the back seat. "I'm going to sleep." she grumbled.

"Alright. I'll wake you up when we get there."

(LATER)

"Excuse me? Ma'am?" The police officer asked, trying to wake up Scarlet. He pulled me over for speeding even though I wasn't speeding. Then he saw Scarlet asleep in the back seat and apparently thought I kidnapped her.

I kind of did. But she's my sister. That doesn't count. "That won't work." I told him, rolling my eyes. "Scarlet!" I shouted in her ear. She woke up and grabbed her heel quickly, holding it up as a weapon. When she saw no threat she relaxed and put the shoe back on.

"Why'd you wake me- oh." she said, looking at the police officer.

"Ma'am, are you traveling with this individual willingly?"

"Yes. He's my obnoxious brother. Not a kidnapper." She said, still tired.

"Are you completely positive?"

"Yeah." she said, rolling her eyes

"Sir, please exit the car." The officer told me.

"Okay…. why?" I asked, doing it.

"Just do it."

"Ma'am, are you completely sure you're traveling with him willingly."

"Yes. For god's sake. He's my brother. We were out and I'm exhausted so he's driving. You're being sexist. You wouldn't have stopped us if I was the one driving, would you?" she snapped loudly.

"You're both going to have to show me some ID." She groaned and pulled out her ID and I pulled out mine.

"See. Same last name, same date of birth." I said.

"You're twins?"

"Triplets. Our other brother isn't here."

"You're going to have to come to the station with me." he said.

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "Josh, can we just leave?" she asked.

"No, we can't. Mom and Dad will kill us."

"You're not going anywhere." The cop said, pointing a gun. Scarlet sighed exasperatedly and sped over and grabbed his gun, leaving him shocked.

"We're children of the avengers. He didn't kidnap me. We're good. Now can you leave so I can go back to sleep."

"You just assaulted an officer. Get in the car." he replied.

I groaned. "Come on Scarlet. Why'd you have to do that?" I asked, getting in the police car.

"I'm going to sleep." she announced, putting her head on my shoulder and getting comfortable.

I rolled my eyes.

(DANIEL POV)

"You're worried about her, aren't you?" Leanne asked me.

"What?"

"Scarlet. You're worried about Scarlet, just call her." she said.

I looked at her confused. I would've thought she would not be happy with me calling Scarlet, but oh well.

I pulled out my phone and exited the house.

"Hey Scarlet." I said.

"Who is this?" A man's voice came from the other side.

"Where is Scarlet?" I demanded.

"Sir, this is the police. Please tell me your full name."

"Okay… Daniel Garner."

"How do you know her?"

"We're close friends. She left the party early so I was calling to make sure she was okay." I said, confused. Why is she with the police? "Did something happen to her? Why is she with the police?"

"Does she have any siblings that you know of?"

"Yeah. She has two brothers, her age. She's part of a set of triplets."

"And was her brother present when she left the party early?"

"Yeah. He left with her." I said. "Please, did something happen to them?"

"She was asleep in the back seat of a car with her supposed brother driving. We have to confirm that they're related. It's unusual for teenagers, especially siblings, to be out driving at this time. If they were a couple, we wouldn't be having this problem."

"She did look tired when she left." I said.

"Can you describe both of her brothers for me, and give me their names?"

"Um, yeah. The one she left with is Joshua Smith, I don't know his middle name, and he has blond hair and green eyes. He's like 6'3 or something. Same with her other brother, except he has brown eyes and his name is Steven Smith." I said.

"Alright. Everything matches up. Can you give me their parent's names?"

"Yeah. Jade Rogers and Jason Smith." I said.

"Are they married?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Thank you. Could you please come to the station?"

"Yeah." I replied, hanging up.

I walked back in and grabbed Leanne and pulled her to the side. "Scarlet and Josh are at the police station. She went to sleep in the back seat so they thought josh had kidnapped her. I have to go in and identify Josh to make sure that it's actually him." I said.

"I'm coming too." she decided, grabbing her jacket and walking out with me.

(JASON POV)

"She can take care of herself. My wife and I are agents of SHIELD. We've trained our children to defend themselves and they couldn't be overpowered by a simple kidnapper anyway." I said, rolling my eyes. "I'm coming to get them." I hung up.

"Red?" I whispered, shaking her lightly. She grunted and looked at me.

"Is everything okay?" she asked tiredly.

"Scarlet and Josh are at the police station. Josh was driving and Scarlet decided to go to sleep in the back and the police pulled them over and thought josh had kidnapped her." I explained.

"Stupid police. Ugh. Give me a minute." she said, throwing on a hoodie. "Let's go get them. My god, you would think they would be easier to take care of as they got older." she muttered.

I pulled on sweatpants and a tshirt and we left.

We got to the police station and looked at them tiredly. "We're here to get our kids."

"Scarlet Smith, right?"

"Mmhmm." Jade said, exasperated.

"Alright, can you show some identification please?"

We pulled out our shield badges and she looked at us. "We need you to identify your son to make sure." she said.

She walked us over to a room where Josh was asleep, and he was drooling. I stifled a laugh. "Yup, that's him." I said. "Josh. Come on baby, let's go." Red said, shaking him a little.

He woke up and rubbed his eyes. "Oh. Where's Scarlet?"

"I'm not sure." Red told him.

We walked out and we saw Daniel and some girl with him, looking frazzled.

"Is Scarlet here?" He asked.

"Yeah, we're going to get her now."

"Oh." he said.

"She's asleep in there as well."

I sighed and walked into the other room and saw Scarlet sleeping on the chair. I could tell she had been crying, I don't know what about though.

"Scarlet, wake up. We're going home now." Red said, waking her up.

She bolted upright. "What?" she asked.

I smiled. "Come on, let's go home. Daniel came to make sure you were okay." I teased.

She blushed, but tried to hide it. "You're so annoying dad. Seriously! Stop trying to arrange my marriage or whatever." she said, very red.

She and Red both blush extremely easily, which I find amusing. "Come on baby, let's go." Red said, grabbing her hands and pulling her up.

(LATER, SCARLET POV)

"Joshua, go get your brother." Mom said, going into scary mom mode. He nodded quickly and rushed upstairs. Daniel and I looked at each other.

"Why haven't you been talking to me?" he whispered.

"I have been talking to you." I whispered back.

"Not as much as usual." he replied.

"Do we have to do this now? My mom is about to murder us." I whispered harshly.

He crossed his arms. "We're talking about it. Right after your mom murders us."

"Well I guess it'll be resolved in the afterlife." I said.

"I guess so."

"Mom. I'm the responsible one. Can I go back to sleep now?" Steven asked, wearing his pajamas, which was basically no shirt and some flannel pants. He looked like josh had literally yanked him out of bed and dragged him here.

"What were you all doing out so late?"

"Nothing." Josh said.

"I can read your minds, don't give me that crap. Now please, somebody tell me why I'm up at 3 AM to pick you up from the police station!" she demanded.

"We were at a party, mom." I replied.

"Were you drinking again?" Dad asked.

"What!? I never drink." Steven protested.

"All that even affects us is asgardian mead, which we didn't have anyway." Josh said.

"Um- I didn't drink this time." Daniel said.

"Scarlet?" My mom asked.

"I'm never drinking alcohol again." I said.

"Alright. That's a nice promise. Are you going to keep it?"

"Yes mom! For gods sake, just believe me! I'm not in the mood for this right now." I snapped, running out.

I went into my room and sat on the edge of the bed, facing away from the door.

I can't stop thinking about it now. About how he touched me while he was drunk. And he's a douche to begin with, but not that kind of douche. I wasn't thinking about it until I had time in the police station with nothing else to do.

I heard someone walk in. "Are you thinking about Brendan?" Daniel asked.

"No." I lied.

"Liar." He called me out. "Look, you can be upset about this." He said.

"I know that. I'm just not." I replied.

"Seriously?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "What's wrong with you?"

"what?" I asked defensively.

"You're being so rude."

"Okay, and?"

"You've been being rude for the past month! Did I do something to you?"

"Yes." I snapped, not even caring enough to lie anymore. I'm tired and mad and I don't want to be interrogated by him. "Okay? Yes! I'm mad at you! Took you long enough to take the hint!" I shouted.

"What could I have possible done?!" he asked, his voice rising as well.

"Oh I don't know! It'll probably take you a month to figure that out as well!" I yelled, mad.

"Can you just be straight forward?! I can't read your freaking mind Scarlet!" he yelled back. I stared at him, fuming.

"Leanne. You actually have feelings for her." I said finally.

"What? Why are you mad about that? You just broke up with Brendan like three days ago anyway."

"Yeah, but I didn't have any feelings for him. And you've never had feelings for anyone else you've dated before either."

"But I still don't get why you're mad about that!" He exclaimed loudly.

"Of course you wouldn't!" I yelled back.

"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?"

"Whatever Daniel! I'm done talking about this!" I shouted, about to run out when he pressed a button on the wall and the inhibitors turned on.

"No, we're not done talking about this. What the hell is going on with you?!"

"NOTHING! EVERYTHING IS FREAKING WONDERFUL DANIEL. HAPPY NOW?!" I shouted, well aware that everyone can probably hear us.

"DAMNIT SCARLET I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM IS! WHY DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH LEANNE?!"

"IM NOT TELLING YOU!"

"So what?! You're going to stay mad at me until we break up?!" He demanded, still yelling.

"Yes! Pretty much!"

"That's not fair scarlet! It's none of your business really and she did nothing to you at all so stop being such a-" he continued before he got cut off.

"Daniel, Scarlet, downstairs, now." Elliot's dad said sternly, giving us the death glare.

"What now?" I snapped.

"You don't speak to your elders like that." My dad said, walking downstairs, giving me a stern look.

"Do I look like I care?"

"Do not give me attitude right now. I had to go to the police station to pick you up at 3 AM and now you two want to wake up the entire tower with your bickering?!" he demanded.

"And Daniel, I know what you were about to say, and I'm extremely disappointed in you! You don't talk to people like that!" Uncle Elliot

"Like you didn't cuss in high school." Daniel replied, rolling his eyes.

"No, I did not. Now what is going on with you two?" his dad said.

"Nothing! Everything is fine and dandy! Can I go now?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, everything is just _great_. That's why you were yelling at me! For no reason!" Daniel said, pissed off.

"Do you really want our dads to get involved right now?" I asked him, glaring.

"Yes! At least then maybe you'll actually tell me why you're mad!" he replied.

"I can't do that!"

"Why the hell not?!"

"BECAUSE I CAN'T!"

"OH WOW SCARLET! THAT'S BRILLIANT REASONING! BRAVO!" he yelled back sarcastically.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?! Cut it out and talk civilly!" My dad shouted.

"Fine." I said, taking a deep breath. "Daniel is oblivious. As are all men. I hate all of you. Every last one of you, except for maybe Steven and Josh occasionally and maybe dad. I wish I was lesbian Good night." I said, storming towards the elevator but it never opened.

"Not so fast. Get back here and explain what that means." Uncle Elliot said.

"You can't make me do anything."

"For god's sake. Why is she so Jade's daughter?" Uncle Elliot asked.

"I do not know." my dad muttered in reply. "I can ground you for a month."

"Please do! Then I don't have to see or interact with freaking stupid people that are a waste of my time!"

"Hey! What the hell? What did I even do?!" Daniel demanded.

"I already told you!"

"No! You didn't!"

"I did too!"

"That's not a reason! You can't be mad at me because I have a girlfriend that I actually care about!" he said.

"Wait a second. What does _actually_ care about mean?" Uncle Elliot asked.

"It means he's a player." I said bluntly.

"Oh like you're any better." he snapped.

"WHAT?!" Both of our dad's shouted.

"How many boyfriends have you had, Scarlet?" My dad asked.

"None of your business." I replied.

"The hell it isn't."

"It's really not. It's my life. I can do whatever the hell I want."

"You're both grounded. 3 months. No phone."

"HA. Like that means anything. You can't keep me here and you can't take my phone."

"You want to try me?" My dad asked.

"I can outrun you any day."

"Try it. We'll see." he said, giving me a look.

"Dad. I can run at the speed of light."

"And I've been fighting Hydra for 30 years."

"Doesn't mean you're fast."

"It means I've already fought people with your powers and I know how to beat you. Not to mention I raised you and I know how you think and act. Don't even think for a second you could fight me and win." he said, staring me down.

"I bet I could."

"Well that's too bad because I'm not fighting you."

"Why not? All that talk and you're scared dad?" I taunted.

He gave me a look. "You're my daughter. I'm not going to fight you, no matter how tempting it is. Now give me your phone."

"No."

He took a deep breath and suddenly my phone lit on fire in pocket. It wasn't burning me though, his the phone. After the fire went out I looked at my phone and gaped. "DAD! WHAT THE HELL?!" I yelled.

"I told you to give it to me." he said, shrugging. "Daniel? Do you want the same treatment for your phone-"

"No no that's okay. Here you go." Daniel replied hastily, handind my dad his phone, who handed it to Uncle Elliot.

"Nice dude." Uncle Elliot said.

"I know. Feels good. Haven't used that in a while."

"YOU COULD'VE BURNED ME DAD!"

"Relax! My fire can't even burn you, your siblings, or your mom. It's some subconscious thing that happens. Can't hurt you guys with my powers." he said, totally calm about this.

"That's impossible. I mean, your powers aren't magical. They're scientific-"

"Oh boy, he's going on a science rant. He really is his mother's son. Listen kid. I've seen it. They were making out while he was literally on fire and Jade also lit on fire and well, she's still here, isn't she?" Uncle Elliot interrupted.

"We're off topic. Scarlet, Daniel. Sit down."

"No." I said.

"Fine, we're doing this the hard way." he said, sighing. He grabbed my shoulders and steered my towards the couch, and I couldn't even pull away.

"What the heck? Why can't I pull away."

"I'm stronger than you are." he said, giving me a flat look as he made me sit down on the couch.

Daniel, seeing this, sat down willingly. He's terrified of my dad, I'm noticing.

"Now what's the problem?" Uncle Elliot asked me.

"I don't even know. She won't tell me." Daniel said.

"You wouldn't get it anyway."

"So? Just tell me. The problem can't get fixed if I don't even know what the problem is."

"You _should_ know what's wrong. That's the problem." I said.

"Why are girls so confusing?!" he asked, sighing frustratedly.

"That's sexist and stereotypical." I said.

"It's true!"

"Fine. You want to know what the problem is? I'll tell you once our dads leave." I said.

Our dads looked at each other and nodded, leaving, shutting the door behind them. "You're dating Leanne. She doesn't _trust_ you. She doesn't _know_ you. You're always going to have to hide things from her. How real even is your relationship?"

"Real enough. And I still don't understand why this bothers you so much."

"How real? Honestly? She doesn't know where you live. She doesn't know your parents are agents of a government organization. She doesn't know you carry weapons at you or that you're certified to carry a gun. What she does know? You've broken heart after heart before. She's expecting you to do it again, I can tell."

"Do you have a problem with her?"

"No, actually, she's the only one of your girlfriends I've ever liked. She's smart and pretty and kind and I can see why you like her. But your relationship is not real and it can't be real until she knows the truth. And you know you can't tell her the truth."

"So . . . You're mad at me because you don't want me to hurt her but you're going to stay mad at me until I break up with her?" he asked.

"The longer this lasts the worse she'll get hurt. And besides. She knows what you don't."

"What does she know that I don't know?"

I shrugged. "That's all i'm willing to say tonight."

"Wait a second. Why don't your morals kick in when you're breaking the hearts of every guy at school?"

"Because they know what they're getting into with me. I'm pretty much heartless and everyone knows it. They don't think I actually care about them because I don't let them think that. They're almost glad when I break up with them." I said, rolling my eyes.

"That's so-"

"Cruel? Insensitive? Heartless? I've heard it all Daniel. Say your worst. I can take it. I've been called every bad name that exists and I don't give a damn what people think. They fear me. I'm popular by doing nothing but being attractive. I didn't ask to be popular and I don't particularly care if people hate me." I said.

"You really should. I mean, if you don't have friends, then who do you even have?"

"Myself. I don't need anybody else. I never have and I never will. You think I talk to people about my feelings or anything? Nope. This has got to be the first time in years and I'm not even telling you the total truth."

"What are you lying about."

"That would defeat the purpose of lying about it then, wouldn't it?" I asked, smiling slightly.

"You have to talk to people. You can't just be secluded and antisocial."

"I can too."

"No. You can't. It's not healthy. Why don't you talk to people? Who hurt you that badly?"

"Well that's just how I am Daniel. Take it or leave it. Good night." I said, getting up and leaving. I walked past my dad and Uncle Elliot who had their ears pressed against the door. I got in the elevator but as it was closing Daniel stuck his hand in the elevator door and walked in.

I sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry. I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry."

"Daniel, apologies don't work like that."

"Well you're not exactly giving me much to work with, are you?" he asked me, rolling his eyes.

"True. But I can't do this anymore."

"Do what?"

"This! Being friends."

"Why not?"

I sighed frustratedly. He is not making this easy. "Daniel, I like you. I mean, I think I might be in love with you. And I would not be admitting this if I wasn't tired as hell right now, but I'm sick of doing this."

"You- what?"

I sighed. "Good night Daniel." I said, getting out of the elevator. His room is a floor up. But no, of course he has to follow me.

"Wait. We're not done talking about this."

"Yes, we are. There's nothing else to say. You don't feel the same."

He hesitated for a second. "What if I did feel the same?" he asked.

I snapped my eyes up and looked at him. "I'm not one of those girls you can play, Daniel."

"Come on. Do you really think I would try that with you?"

"I mean, you're telling me this as you have a girlfriend."

"Good point. But I would never do that to you."

"Why not? Why wouldn't you?"

"Because I've liked you for a long time Scarlet."

I met his eyes, not knowing what he was doing right now. Where this is going.

Then he kissed me. And I didn't even try to pull away. I know it's wrong though. He has a girlfriend. I shouldn't do this. But it felt so right anyway.

I kissed him back, placing my hand on his shoulder. He put his hands on my waist and pulled me closer and that's basically when I lost all reservations I had about this.

I pulled away a little. "My room. Now." I said. He kissed me again, harder.

(NEXT MORNING, DANIEL POV)

Oh crap. This is bad, this is very very bad. I just made a huge mistake. Scarlet woke up next to me a minute later.

She looked at me, didn't seem to care, closed her eyes, then snapped them open again and stared at me. "Holy crap." she muttered.

"I know." I replied.

"Shoot. Okay. You should probably leave before somebody finds you here. Nobody can know about this. You go back to your relationship, I'll pretend nothing happened, everything will be fine." she said.

"Alright-"

"Hey Scarlet-" Steven started, walking in, before he saw me and his eyes widened.

"No. You two did not do what I think you did. Don't you have a girlfriend?" he said, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Steven. I'm _naked._ Can you leave?" Scarlet said, exasperated.

"I'm assuming nobody is supposed to find out about this?" he asked.

"Thank you Stevie."

"You calling me that almost makes me want to change my mind." he muttered, leaving.

"Now go! Quickly!"

"How am I supposed to get up there without anyone noticing?" I asked.

"Shoot. You're right. Here, put on some clothes and I'll run you up the stairs." she said, getting up herself.

(LATER)

I sighed, looking at the phone. I hate to do this, I really do. I didn't mean for this to end this way. But I feel really guilty this time. I shouldn't have cheated on her, but to continue lying about it would just be too much.

"Hey Leanne." I said.

"Hey Daniel. What ended up happening last night?" she asked. I winced. It's almost like she can read my mind.

"Um, well, a lot of things. I'm really really sorry and I honestly didn't mean to do this despite my reputation and everything I've done in the past-"

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"I cheated on you. With scarlet. I'm sorry." I said.

She sighed. "I figured as much. Not just because of your reputation either. I see the way you look at her." she said.

"Leanne-"

"Daniel, stop. I am breaking up with you. But no bad feelings, alright? Everyone knows who you actually lzove. Everyone except you." she said, hanging up.

I groaned. Why are girls so confusing? People think I have it all figured out, but not really.

"Dude. You're screwed." Steven said, leaning against the doorframe.

"I know." I replied. "So Leanne and I just broke up."

"And you and Scarlet-"

"Yeah I know. I was there." I cut him off.

"Well, I have to ask. What's stopping you?"

"I don't know."

"You know she feels the same way. Everyone in the universe knows that."

"I don't know. What's been stopping us for the past couple years? I guess we're both just kind of scared. I've known about the way she feels for a long time and I'm assuming it went both ways." I said.

"What are you scared of?"

"Screwing it up?"

"Ah. Yeah, that would be bad." he said

(SCARLET POV)

"But, I mean, we both know that we're endgame. mom told us that. So I guess we kind of unofficially decided that we can both just wait it out. It would happen eventually." I said.

"Must be nice, knowing your future." Josh said.

"You could just ask." I told him.

"I'm afraid I won't like the answer." he replied.

"Listen, it'll work out."

"Oh yeah. Totally. Because Rebecca isn't the heiress to a realm, and she isn't the only one who can take the throne, and she most definitely isn't going to have to go live on another planet and we can never ever have kids because the bloodline will get too diluted so they'll have to have a new lineage of rulers which will totally screw up everything!" He said.

I looked at him. "Okay, sit down and breathe." He stayed standing. "I mean it. Sit." I said forcefully. He sat. "Look, you'll work something out. It's a long way away and I mean Thor is still alive and well, then you have Uncle Apollo, and then Rebecca probably won't have to rule until you're like 80." I said.

He sighed. "Yeah. Yeah you're right. Now what about you?"

"I don't know. I just wish we hadn't done that last night."

"Really?" he asked skeptically , raising his eyebrows.

"No. I mean, it was great." I said, trying to justify it. "I just wish in theory. That like we were actually dating and so I wouldn't have to regret it, you know?"

"Yeah, no, never been in that position."

"And you know, neither of us have done the whole feelings thing before."

"Look. Do you like him?" he asked.

I looked at josh. "Josh, I think I love him." I said.

"Okay. Then it'll be fine. Work it out."

"Yeah. Yeah you're right." I muttered. "I'm just so scared it's not going to work out. I can't lose him, okay? We can't get in a fight and then stop talking and be bitter exes. I can't do that." I said. "Why is this so hard?"

"You're going to be okay. Both of you. You've both been scared for such a long time. Just face the fear and move past it."

"When did you get good at romance?"

"Hey! I've always been good at romance!"

"No, no you have not." I replied.

"I'll have you know that I've had a girlfriend for the past 3 years."

"Yeah yeah, your point?"

"Well what's the longest any of your relationships have lasted?"

"Touché."


	41. Love in the air

**Here's another chapter for you guys! Enjoy! :)**

Elliot and Dianna: Age 16 and 15

(DIANNA POV)

I do _not_ like Elliot Garner. Sure, I can tell you every little detail about him. Yes, I know his shoe size. I mean, I might know what he ate for dinner last night, but I do not by any means like him. That's ridiculous.

That all might sound a little stalker ish, but I swear it's not. He's my best friend's brother, of course I know a lot about him. We all ordered shoes in one order online a few days ago, and we ate dinner at the same time. So no, I'm not stalking him.

Firstly, he's older than I am. Secondly, we hate each other. Thirdly, just ew. I mean, he is semi good looking. Okay, he is kind of hot. Who am I kidding, he's gorgeous.

Did I just think that about my best friend's older brother? Gah!

"You're blushing." Alana said nonchalantly from next to me. "Thinking about something . . . Or someone?" she asked mischievously.

"No." I replied. It's the truth. I do not have a crush on anybody.

"Yeah you do. Spill." she said. "Do they live here?"

"Alana-"

"So they do live here! Well, Robert, Tanner, and Jason are taken, so that leaves Johnny and Elliot."

"I never said they lived here." I muttered.

"Aha! You do like somebody! So is it somebody from school?"

"I don't like anyone! This is nonsense and a complete waste of time." I protested.

"They do go to our school. I see, I see, so that means Jack is out of the question."

"Ugh Alana that gross. He's younger than us!"

She shrugged. "Whatever. I've seen it before. So anyway, they go to our school. Are they in your grade or mine?"

"Can you stop." I muttered, seeing as she was getting close.

"They're in your grade aren't they?!"

"Alana! I don't like anyone and that's final." I said, getting up and leaving. If this were any other situation with any other guy, I would tell her. But seeing as it's her brother, that could get awkward.

Did I just admit I have a crush on Elliot? Even in my own brain? Ugh.

(ALANA POV)

She so does like somebody. I just have to figure out who. I'm trying to think of any guy friends she has at school in her grade. There's Marcus, but I'm pretty sure she's not interested in him. He's nice and all, don't get me wrong, he's just not the kind of guy I can ever see her with.

"Hey Ellie." I said, walking in the kitchen. "Who do you think Dianna likes?" I asked. He's in her grade and in a few of her classes, I'm sure he knows some of whom she hangs out with. He turned around and I don't know what expression _that_ is on his face right now.

"I don't know." He said. "why would you ask me?"

"I'm not in any of her classes. I'm not even in her grade, I have no clue who all she hangs out with that are guys. Oh my god! Of course! What if she likes a _girl_?! That would explain-"

"Alana, I'm pretty sure she likes guys." he interrupted.

"But she's not telling me who she likes. Why isn't she? God, I told her when I first started liking Tanner." I complained.

"Can we not talk about who she likes?" he muttered.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Why don't you ask Tanner about who she hangs out with?" he asked, changing the subject. I narrowed my eyes.

"Do you hate her or something?" I asked.

"No." he muttered under his breath. I examined him.

"Yeah you do." I decided.

"I don't." he said, shaking his head, slightly red. He and I don't blush easily, well, we do, it just doesn't show up because of our skin tone. He's darker than I am too, so the fact that he's blushing means something. Suddenly I realized what that expression was. That was _jealousy_.

"No you don't. You _like_ her!" I exclaimed, shocked by this revelation.

"Say it louder, I don't think they heard you in China." he said, rolling his eyes.

"So you admit it."

"No, I didn't. I don't want people to get the wrong idea. I don't hate her, but that doesn't mean I _like_ her. Well, I like her, I don't like like her. I mean, oh you know what I mean." he said, his blush deepening with each word. My grin widened.

"Yeah yeah. You don't like her, you _love_ her." I teased.

He rolled his eyes. "You're so annoying. You do realize I _just_ broke up with Lia last week, right?" he asked.

I scowled. "I hate her guts. She's so stuck up and prudish and just ugh. She thinks she's all that. She's so _fake_. _And_ she copied my hair. I don't know why you didn't break up with her sooner."

"Yeah I know. You told me that 20 times already. And she didn't copy your hair. Her's is red."

"Same style." I said dismissively. "She was trying to get that bad girl image and failed miserably." I scoffed.

"Yeah, see, all the kids in my grade know you as the scary freshman with the piercings." he said, laughing.

"Good." I said, satisfied with that image. "But let's not forget the topic at hand here. You totally like her. Just admit it, it's not weird or anything. I mean, I ship it. Actually no. I don't ship you with anybody. Nobody should have to put up with you, but if anyone is qualified to do it, it's her."

"Gee thanks. So glad you approve." he said sarcastically.

"So you admit it."

"Yes. Fine. I like her, okay. Happy now?" he huffed, annoyed. "But don't tell _anybody_." he said.

"Who would I tell?" I asked, grinning.

"Oh, I don't know, your best friend?" he said dryly.

I laughed. "Oh man, you're screwed. Good luck with that." I said, patting his shoulder and leaving. He rolled his eyes.

I walked over to the lab where I'm 89% sure Tanner is right now, and sure enough, there he is.

"Hey Tanner, who do you think Dianna likes?" I asked.

He put down whatever he was working on and turned in the spinny chair, gaping at me. "You're kidding right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Dianna obviously likes Elliot." he said.

"Wait. What?! Why wouldn't she tell me?"

"Yeah. You didn't know?"

"No! This is so weird!"

"That's probably why she didn't tell you." he said, smirking.

"How do you know?" I demanded.

"She literally gives him heart eyes every time she looks at him." he said. "I think that because of Lia she was denying it."

"God. I want to strangle Lia. I mean, she's been cheating on Ellie for months. They hadn't even been dating for that long." I muttered, cracking my knuckles. He gave me an amused look.

"Okay. Calm down. You can't go beat her up, however much you want to."

"Yeah, see, but him and Dianna are perfect for each other! This makes me hurt. I don't know why they're not already a thing."

"You know, Elliot likes her back too, so theoretically, it could happen."

"How do you know?!"

"Heart eyes." was all he said, smirking. "There's him and Johnny who still have to ask out Dianna and Sarah and then all will be right with the world. Even Jack and Juliana got together faster than these slow pokes."

See, this is why I love him. I can talk to him about these things without it being weird. He gets it.

"Well, yeah. They love each other I guess. And nobody bothered to tell me! God."

"Well, to be fair, it has to be awkward for them. I mean, she's your best friend and he's your older brother. That is a little weird isn't it?"

I sighed. "Yeah. I guess so."

(ELLIOT POV)

She knows. Oh crap crap crap. That means she'll tell Tanner, who will tell Naomi, who will tell Robert, who will tell Dianna. Why do I trust my sister?

(DIANNA POV)

"Hey Alana." I said as she walked in the lab. She leaned against the wall, crossed her arms, and smirked at me.

"I know who you like." she declared. I scoffed at that.

"Enlighten me, please."

"You like my brother." she said. I froze and she laughed. "Yes! I was right."

"No you weren't. That's ridiculous." I protested.

"No it's not. You're blushing." she said.

"Listen, I don't like Elliot."

"Yeah, you do. It's okay. You don't have to be embarrassed. I personally don't see why anyone would like him but I mean, you do you." she said, shrugging.

I looked at her nervously. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'm cool with it. I kinda ship it actually."

I sighed in relief. "Okay, good. I thought you would freak out."

"Me, freak out?" she asked, smirking. "Never. Although I am freaking out a little because this whole time I thought you were aromantic or something."

"Seriously?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"I also contemplated you being lesbian or bi or something." she said.

"I'm not." I said, laughing.

"Well, now that that's sorted, all that's left is for you guys to get together." she said.

"Wait, what?!" I asked. "He doesn't even like me back."

"I'm his sister. I know stuff." she said.

"Did he tell you?"

"Well-"

"Then nothing is for sure." I cut her off. There is no possible way.

(JASON POV)

"Elliot. Elliot. Elliot Garner! YO ELLIOT!" I shouted in his ear after him ignoring me.

"What?" he asked, startled.

"Why are you so nervous?" I asked.

"What? Pssh. I'm not nervous." he said. I gave him a look.

"Right. You can feel emotions. Damnit." he muttered. "Okay, so you can't tell _anyone._ Not even Jade, got it?"

I don't know what's so serious I can't tell Red, but whatever. "Okay. So what's up?"

"So basically, I told my loud mouth sister who I like, and now _everyone_ is going to know." he said. I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing.

"Dude, she likes you back. You're so oblivious it's funny." I said.

"Wait, you know?" he asked, shocked.

"Don't look so surprised. It's obvious. Everyone knows you like Dianna except her herself." I said.

"Wait, so _everyone_ knows this? My sister didn't know- or maybe she did!"

"You sound like a conspiracy theorist. Relax. Alana is just as oblivious as you are. It runs in the family." I said, cracking up again. He glared at me.

"It's not funny."

"It's hilarious."

"Jason."

"Yeah?" I asked, still laughing.

"You suck." he said with a straight face.

"And you're in love." I teased.

"So are you."

"Yeah, but I already accepted that." I said.

"You're a terrible friend." he muttered.

"I'm an awesome friend. You would be nothing without me."

"Lies."

"Elliot, just ask her out. It'll be fine. Tanner and I were talking about it. You two are like the heart eye emojis when you talk to each other."

He went red. "Could you not?"

"You're such a wimp. Just go for it. What's the worst that could happen?"

"She'll reject me."

"That's not that bad."

"Jason, we live together." he emphasized.

"Mhmm, your point? She won't reject you. Stop being a chicken."

"You're a terrible human being." he muttered.

"And you're a scared human being." I taunted.

He punched my shoulder. "You're annoying."

I punched him back. "You love me. Wait no you don't, you love-" He clamped his hand over my mouth as Dianna walked in and he glared at me.

She gave us a weird look. "Do I want to know?"

"I mean, probably, but maybe not." I said.

Elliot looked ready to strangle me. "You don't want to know, trust me." he said.

"Why would I trust you?"

"Because I'm me and I'm fabulous." he replied.

"Are you sure you're straight?" Dianna asked. I laughed.

"Damn Elliot. She just roasted you so hard."

He hit my arm. "I'm straight as a ruler." he said.

"Right. A flexible ruler." she said, smirking.

"Are you sure you're straight, Dianna? It's not like you've ever taken any interest in a guy before." he said. Wow Elliot. Bold move.

She blushed. "You don't know that."

"Name them."

"Get out. Oh my god. Why would I tell you that?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

"Because I didn't even tell Alana! And she's been pestering me for years. Today she asked if I was lesbian." she said.

She's lying. Oh it's so painfully obvious. After years of reading Red, my other friends are easy to read.

"As much as I hate to break up the budding romance, can you guys continue this somewhere else?" Aunt Skye asked.

"It's not romance!" Dianna said.

"It's the opposite of romance!" Elliot agreed.

"Uhuh. Okay. Jason, I'm counting on you to get them together. You've got a month." Aunt Skye said.

I laughed. "Okay. Operation Delliot." I said.

"You suck at ship names." Red told me, walking in. "Ellianna is so much prettier."

"You're right." I muttered. "I need to work on that. Operation Ellianna!" I renamed it.

Aunt Skye nodded. "I'm telling you, you have a month."

"Oh lord." Dianna muttered.

"So, you know, i can hear your thoughts right now, and this is soooo amusing." Red told them, laughing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elliot asked.

I can practically feel the embarrassment radiating off of them. "It means that you two are so compatible. Make out already!" I said.

"You know, a date might be better to start off with. Not everyone starts their relationship with a make out session." Red told me.

"We started our relationship with the 6 year old equivalent to that." I replied, smirking.

She grinned. "True. I still remember the look Dianna gave Elliot when he said girls have cooties."

"Do you still believe that Elliot?" I asked.

He glared at me. "I hate you."

"I love you too."

"Guys! I'm sure you love each other very much, but Elliot, I would appreciate it if you didn't flirt with my boyfriend." Red said, crossing her arms, feigning seriousness.

Elliot banged his head on the table. "For the last time. I'm not gay."

"Whatever you say Elliot." Dianna said.

"So, how about this. If you won't prove our statements, why don't you disprove them? Tell us who each of you like and then if you both have alibis we'll let you go." I said.

"Uhhhhh- no thanks." Elliot said, and at the same time Dianna was rapidly shaking her head and then they walked out, avoiding each other.

"Damn. They have it bad." Red muttered.

"I know right?"

"Dianna literally spent the last five minutes thinking about his bone structure." she deadpanned.

"Oh my god." I said, laughing.

"And Elliot was marveling at her eyes. And other stuff. I wish I couldn't read minds sometimes, you know that?" she said.

I smirked. "What other stuff was Elliot thinking about?"

"I feel like that's an invasion of privacy but-" She whispered it in my ear and I started cracking up.

"No he wasn't." I said, laughing so hard.

"Believe me, I heard it loud and clear." Red said, also laughing.

"We're so mean."

"I know, I feel bad getting in everyone's business."

"But it stays between us, so it's all good." I said.

She grinned. "Yup."

"Well, sort of between us two. I'm so going to tease Elliot about that later." I said.

She hit my shoulder lightly. "I don't tell you these things so you can use them to your advantage." she said, rolling her eyes.

"Then why do you tell me?" I asked.

She tried not to smile. "Good point." she said. "But don't tease him too much." she said, walking out.

Then Alana, Tanner, and Naomi walked in. "Time to start mission Elliana." Alana declared. "Wonder Twins, you two have to put them in situations where they're forced to talk to each other and potentially kiss and declare love for one another. Jason, you're on Elliot's case. Tease him, bully him, I don't care. I will handle Dianna." Alana said.

"We need a plan of action." I said.

"Okay. I've got one. How about the locking them in a closet together technique? That always works." Naomi suggested.

"Uh Nims, that's not really effective." Tanner said.

"It works Tanya, I swear by it." Naomi replied.

"Don't call me Tanya." he said, glaring at her.

"They argue a lot, don't they?" I said. "We can use that. Get them to argue about something love related and they'll be off on each other for hours, which gives an opportunity to get them alone together."

They looked at me. "I forgot this is what you do." Alana muttered, shaking her head.

"Now all we have to do is wait for the right opportunity . . ." Tanner said, grinning.


	42. Barton vs Rogers Through The Years

**This chapter is dedicated to Jade and Johnny's friendly rivalry. It's amusing because their little siblings are dating and their significant others are cousins so they can't really avoid each other even if they didn't live in the same building. XD.**

Jade and Johnny: Ages Vary

Age 6:

(JOHNNY POV)

"Jade, give it back!" I yelled at her, annoyed. She took my bow and arrow. Nobody takes my bow and arrow.

"Nope." she replied, running away from me. I ran after her, determined to get my bow and arrow back.

"Sorry Johnny! You're going to have to survive without your bow and arrow!" she taunted.

"Yeah right! You're so annoying." I replied. Then something caught my eye.

"Well, if you won't give me that back, then-"

"Drop. The bear." she said slowly, holding the bow like she's about to break it. I held the stuffed bear on both ends, ready to rip it in half.

"Then drop the bow and arrow." I replied.

"I swear to god, if you do _anything_ to him I will-"

"You'll what?" I taunted. "You've got no leverage."

"I'm not giving you your bow until you give back the bear." she said.

"Well I'm not giving you the bear until you give me the bow."

"Well then we can place them in the middle at once." she suggested, glancing at the bear worriedly.

"No. I don't trust you. Give me the bow first." I insisted.

"NO!" she yelled.

"Okay." I muttered, pulling at the bear a little bit. A tiny ripping sound could be heard and that's when she lost it.

"YOU HURT MR. CUDDLES, YOU DIE!" she yelled at me, charging.

"Oh no." I said, running in the opposite direction, dropping the bear. She dropped the bow and picked up the small stuffed animal.

I picked up my bow and arrow and stepped away from her warily. She saw the small rip in the bear's side and looked up, glaring at me.

"You're not getting away with this." she said.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do?" I asked. She got up and walked over to me slowly.

"You. Hurt. Mr. Cuddles." she repeated.

"It's a stuffed animal. It's not like it can feel pain." I said.

She then tackled me and was probably going to punch me when Uncle Steve came over and pulled her away from me.

"Jade, you don't hit." he chastised. I grinned smugly.

"He hurt Mr. Cuddles." She said, making tears form in her eyes on purpose.

Uncle Steve looked at me and Jade smirked at me when he wasn't looking. "Johnny, is this true?" he asked.

"Um yeah, but she stole my bow and arrow first." I protested.

"Both of you apologize to each other." he told us. I looked at her grudgingly and she smiled innocently.

"But daddy, he started it." she said.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"You know what? I'm done." Uncle Steve muttered, leaving.

Age 10 (JADE POV)

"Jase, are you doing anything right now?" I asked.

"Well yeah. I'm kind of working on something." he said. "Why?"

"Oh okay. I just wanted to spar. I'll find someone else." I said.

"Okay. Sorry." he replied.

"It's fine. I'll see you later." I said, leaving.

I walked into the kitchen and saw Alana sitting there with Sarah. "Will either of you guys spar with me?" I asked.

"Uh no thanks. I still have bruises from last time." Sarah said.

"I would but I promised Dianna I would do something for her." Alana told me.

"Aww. That's fine, I'll find someone else." I said.

"Why don't you soar with Johnny? He was bothering me because he was bored earlier." Sarah suggested. I gave her a look.

"Seriously? No thanks. I'm good." I replied.

"Can we mention how Sarah's spending so much time with Johnny?" Alana asked, smirking.

"I ship it. Oh it's so cute." I agreed. "He's annoying, you're annoying, it works." I joked.

She glared at me. "I'm kidding! Well, _he_ is annoying. You're not." I said. She continued glaring.

"I don't like Johnny. For god's sake. Anyway, you're one to talk. What about you and Jason?"

"Ewwww he's my best friend. No way!" I protested.

"Uhuh. You're blushing." Alana pointed out.

"Because it's weird! Not because I like him. Ugh! You guys are so annoying." I groaned.

"Jade and Jason, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G" Alana sang.

"Shut up." I muttered.

"Then admit it! You are in love with Jason!" Sarah challenged me.

I rolled my eyes. "I won't admit it because there's nothing to admit." I replied.

"Fine then, I'll just go tell _him_ that you do like him anyway." she said.

I blushed. "Stop. Fine. I maybe kind of just a little bit sort of like Jase. But just a little bit!" I insisted.

"Oooh that's gold." Johnny said, laughing, leaning against the doorway holding a phone.

"You did not just record that." Sarah said, laughing.

"I did." he confirmed.

"Johnny freaking Barton if you want to make it out of this kitchen alive I suggest you give me that phone." I threatened. He laughed.

"You don't scare me Merida." he taunted.

"Watch who you're calling Merida, Merida." I snapped, marching up to him.

"You literally have the long red curls. Don't deny it." he said.

"Yeah okay Cupid. Give me the phone." I said.

"Nope." He replied, popping the "p" and running towards the office where I know Jase is right now. Oh no no no no. I went through all that trouble in the playground to make sure he didn't find out I liked him. I am not about to let him find out from _Johnny_ of all people.

I grit my teeth and tackled him, grabbing the phone. He snatched it back and we were just pulling it back and forth between us until somehow, it literally just flew away from both of us and shattered. He paled.

I smirked. "I'm cool with that." I agreed.

"Johnny, why is my phone shattered on the floor?" Uncle Clint asked.

"She did it!" he immediately said, pointing at me.

"Hey! You did it!" I protested.

"Why were you fighting over the phone anyway?" Uncle Clint asked exasperatedly.

"Because he took a video of me."

"And why is that a problem?" Uncle Clint asked.

"Because she admitted to liking Jason." Johnny said. I punched him. "Ow! That hurt." he complained.

"It was supposed to. _You_ weren't supposed to know, much less your dad!"

"I won't tell." Uncle Clint said, laughing. "But, I think he already knows."

I saw Jason standing there awkwardly and I went red. And then I punched Johnny again.

"Hey! Would you stop that?"

"No. I can't believe you. I know I call you Cupid, but that doesn't mean you have to _act_ like Cupid, playing match maker and all that." I muttered.

"Whatever Merida." he said.

"Cupid."

"Spangles."

"Legolas."

"Guys!" my mom interrupted. "Stop it."

"But mom-"

"No. How is it that our children ended up hating each other?" my mom asked Uncle Clint. He laughed.

"I have no idea." he responded.

"Well, I mean, I don't _hate_ her." Johnny said, taking me by surprise.

"Yeah, we don't actually hate each other. He's just annoying."

"And she's even more annoying."

"He can't keep his mouth shut, and-"

"She can't not punch me, but-"

"He can't stop interrupting." I said pointedly, glaring at him.

"And she can't stop glaring. I think there's spending wrong with her face." he told my mom.

"Yeah, and I think he's mentally incapable of being _normal_." I told Uncle Clint.

"But you know, we don't hate each other." he said.

"Right. It's more of an immense dislike." I agreed.

Our parents rolled their eyes. "Whatever you say." my mom relented, walking away with Uncle Clint.

"Um- well, uh- this is awkward." I muttered, staring at Jase.

Johnny didn't leave while we were just staring at each other awkwardly. Instead, after a few minutes, he spoke up.

"OH FORGET IT! He's clearly not going to say it. He likes you back Jade. Why don't you two just kiss already?" he said.

We both went even redder than before and glared at Johnny.

He threw his hands up. "Whatever. You two are a lost cause! But just so you know, I expect to be godfather to one of your future kids." he said, walking away.

Age 19 (JADE POV)

"Johnny, we have to ask you and Sarah something." I said to him. Jase was next to me and I wasn't about to get up, so I called them over while they were passing. These kids are supposed to come out any day now and I want chocolate. That was random.

"Yeah okay. What's up Merida? How are the Merida and Fireboy babies doing?" he asked.

"You're so annoying." I muttered. I looked at Jase. "Remind me why we though this is a good idea?" I asked. He laughed and put his arm around me.

"He asked for it." he replied.

"Wait, I asked for what?" Johnny asked, panicking.

"But we don't have to give it to him." I replied.

"Yeah, but Sarah is my cousin, and he's her boyfriend, so we do kind of have to." Jase said.

"Wait a minute! I didn't help him with whatever he did to ask for it." Sarah interjected.

"I didn't _do_ anything." Johnny replied.

We continued ignoring them. "Fine fine. We'll ask them." I muttered.

"Ask us what?!" The couple in question asked exasperatedly.

"Would you guys like to be Josh's godparents?" I asked.

Sarah's face lit up and Johnny looked perplexed. "Oh my god that would be amazing!" Sarah said excitedly.

"Wait, but- I didn't ask for this." Johnny muttered.

"Yes you did. Remember? We were ten and in denial of liking each other even though you revealed our feelings without our consent and you told us that you better be the godfather to one of our future children." I said, smiling. "Sorry Cupid, but you really did ask for it."

"Well, I'm not complaining! I love children." he said matter of factly.

Jase and I laughed and shook our heads. "You're _not_ giving him a mini bow and arrow as any of his birthday presents until he's 12. And you will not teach him how to use one, you won't let him hold one, and you won't even take him near the archery range." I said slowly, as though he'd have trouble understanding.

He groaned. "Oh come on Spangles! You take all the fun out of it." he complained.

"It's my child, my rules." I said firmly. "And don't call me spangles."

"Alright spangles." he agreed.

I glared at him. "Don't make me take it back." I muttered.

He grinned. "Okay spangles."

I rolled my eyes. "You're insufferable."

"Whatever you say spangles." he sang.

"Johnny. Shut up." I said bluntly.

"Fine by me spangles."

"Dude, you might actually want to stop now." Jase told him.

"Alrighty fireboy." he replied.

"Oh my god Cupid. Get lost." I said, shooing him away. He laughed.

Age 22 (JOHNNY POV)

Having a kid is stressful. Taking the little guy to a wedding? Even more stressful. And whose wedding is it? Merida's, whose else?

Although I have to admit, he looks adorable in a miniature suit and tie. "Daddy daddy daddy." he babbled, crawling everywhere. I picked him up.

"You know mom will get mad at you for doing that." I told him.

"Mommy?" he perked up. I laughed.

"She's getting ready." I said.

"Mommy." he insisted, hitting me with his little tiny baby fists.

"Thomas, she's getting ready. Your mom takes a long time to get ready, okay?" I tried to explain to him.

Here it comes. First is the eyes widening. Check.

Then comes the watery green eyes. Check.

Then he sticks out his bottom lip. Check.

Then comes the whimpering. Check.

And here comes the waterworks.

"Sarah! Are you almost done in there?" I called out. I can make him calm down, but it's so much easier and quicker if she does it. I swear the kid has an internal switch he turns off when he sees Sarah.

"Not really!" she responded.

"Can you hurry?" I asked.

"Nope. I have to look good. I'm one of the bridesmaids." she said.

"And I'm one of the groomsmen, but you don't see me taking forever." I replied.

"Yeah, I know. Handle the situation Johnny. You'll be fine." she replied. Thomas, having stopped crying enough to hear Sarah's voice, tried straining towards the door.

"Mommy?" he asked, sniffling.

"Yes sweetie, I'll be out in a few minutes. Can you be good for a little bit?" she asked him.

"Otay." he agreed. Aww that's cute. He just said 'okay'. For some reason he refuses to make the k sound though.

"Alright little guy. We have to fix your hair now." I said.

He looked at me grinning, showing his two bottom teeth. "No."

"Thomas, you have to." I said. He giggled.

"No."

I gave him a look. "We're going to make your hair look nice whether you like it or not." I told him sternly.

He giggled again and messed up my hair. I sighed.

"Come on kiddo. Can you just sit here for a few minutes? I just have to comb your hair and then you can go." I said.

He nodded and I put him down on the chair. Then he climbed down and crawled away when I had my back turned to grab the little comb. I looked around for him for a while until I heard something interesting. "Thomas, what are you doing here?" Juliana asked him.

"Mommy." he replied.

"You want your mom?" Juliana asked.

"Ya." he replied.

"Well she's busy right now, can you go back to daddy?" she asked him.

"Otay." he agreed. Juliana brought him out and handed him to me.

"You are not allowed in there. Tell Sarah when she's down with her shower to come to my room. That's where her dress is." she said.

My jaw dropped. "You mean she hasn't even changed yet? She's just _showering_? Jeez, it's not her wedding." I said.

"No, but it's her cousin's wedding, so she has to look nice. Speaking of, I have to look nice too. So go on! And fix his hair, would you?" she said cheerily, going back in the room and shutting the door. I facepalmed.

A little while later we were all at the ceremony, and we all walked down the aisle ahead of Jason, who was with his mom. Steven and Josh are the ring bearers, and they keep whispering to each other. I nudged them for the third time, trying to get them to be quiet. Jason walked down, and then Josh ran up and hi fived him before going back to his position, making everyone laugh. Then came the bridesmaids, and I'm pretty sure Sarah is already crying . . . anyway, then Scarlet, Maria, and Marisa came waddling down the aisle with rose petals, although the younger two were just kind of dropping bunched of them sporadically on the floor.

And finally it was Merida's turn. I have to say, she looks amazing, which is a little out of the ordinary. I'm joking of course, well, sort of. Uncle Steve was walking next to her and I think he's crying too, but I think they're happy tears. Not one to be outdone, Steven ran up to her and hugged her tightly, garnering a bunch of awe's. I noticed him nudge Josh with a smirk on his face. Now it's time for the vows.

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of these two amazing people. The daughter of Natashalie and Capsicle, and the son of She Who Must Not Be Named and Blondie. Jade and Jason, the unstoppable Hydra-fighting duo- you get the point." Uncle Tony said. He got certified a while ago, and now he's officiating the wedding, much to Jade's chagrin. "The rings, please."

Steven and Josh both walked up, Josh giving it to Jade and Steven to Jason. Jason started. "Red, we've known each other since birth. We've been best friends since we first understood what that even meant. You're the most brave, smart, selfless, beautiful, amazing person I've ever known, although Elliot might argue-" we laughed and Elliot grinned. "-and that will never change for as long as I live. And when I die, I want to be able to look back and say that we've loved each other since we knew what love was." he finished, putting the ring on her finger. Sarah is full blown crying right now, I just know it, even if I can't see her from this angle, I know she is.

"Neither of us have had easy lives, not by any means, but the fact that we went through it together always made it easier. You've always been there for me and I've always tried my best to be there for you, and I know that won't ever change. You're so kind, and accepting, and caring, and I don't even remember what I planned to say next, but I don't care. I love you, and I promise to keep loving you forever." she said, actually crying. Who would've thought Merida would've cried at her wedding? During the vows no less.

"Do you, Jason Smith, take Jade to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Uncle Tony asked.

"I do." he said, smiling.

"And do you, Jade Rogers, take Jason to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do." she said, also smiling.

"You may now kiss the bride." he said, smiling. They did as he said. The whole crowd started cheering, and Thor was the loudest I think.

"GO MERIDA!" I shouted, and she flipped me off openly. I laughed.

(LATER AT THE RECEPTION)

Elliot got up to make his best man's speech and toast.

"Even though I wanted Jason for myself, I'm still happy for you two. I mean, Jade is like my sister and Jason is my boyfriend, so you know." he started. Everyone laughed at that part. "But in all seriousness, I would like to congratulate the couple. We've all known this day would come. I remember when you were 10, in the park. Actually, I'd like to share that story. We were at the playground, just hanging out, and Jade was acting exceptionally weird, more so than normally, no offense."

"None taken." Jade replied, smiling.

"And so my dear sister called a girls meeting at the top of the slide. That was their spot, that no boy could enter. I still haven't been up there to this day, but that's a different story. So anyways, Jason went to eavesdrop. He heard them talking, and they told Jade that the butterflies in her stomach were because of a crush. Now, at the time, that was apparently scandalous. So Jade, when interrogated by the aforementioned dear sister-" this caused Alana to roll her eyes at him. "-told her friends that they did not know the person she liked, which was a massive lie. Anyway, he heard this and was shocked to realize that he actually cared that Jade liked somebody. And that somebody wasn't him, or so he thought. So Jason comes over to us, and I inform him that Jade was lying because why would she tell my dearest sister that mshe had a crush? I wouldn't. To be fair, I didn't. And anyway, it was Johnny that spilled the beans about Jason liking Jade and Jade liking Jason. So there's that story. But here's the thing, those two have gone through hell together. They've dealt with pain and hardship. But no matter what, they never broke once. They've always stood by each other, and tried to put the other before themselves, even if that resulted in idiotic actions. But nothing about their love is idiotic. I like to think it's quite poetic. And that, my dear friends, is the romance of Jadason." Elliot concluded. Everyone clapped and he sat down at the table. "How was I?" he whispered.

"Decent." I muttered.

"Hey!" he protested.

"Okay everyone, wish me luck.." I muttered, going up. "Everyone knows that Merida and I have an interesting friendship. I sabotaged her, she sabotaged me, and more importantly, I like to credit myself on being the reason we are here today. Granted, they both hated me for it at the time, but now I'm here making a speech at their wedding as the godfather of one of their children. I tried giving the triplets bows and arrows last night and I swear Jason almost killed me with his eyes. I wasn't actually going to give it to them, and they were rubber arrows anyway, but that's besides the point. When we play FIFA, Jason and I are the only competent players-"

"Hey!" came the protest from all my friends. I laughed.

"Anyway, he and I have always been good friends. Then I started dating his cousin, and we were forced to hang out even more than before. Granted, we lived in the same building. But back to the important stuff. There have been times in the past when we didn't know if they were alive. We didn't know if they would make it past their teenage years. But somehow they did it, and they're pretty damn old. I mean, not as old as Uncle Steve and Aunt Tasha, but you get the idea. They have three beautiful children together, and they're an inspiration to all of us. Congratulations guys." I said, walking off. People clapped.

"NOW LET'S EAT CAKE!" Elliot said, and people moved to the dessert lines.

When we got there we saw four little people, the triplets and daniel, who is basically an extension of the triplets, with their hands and mouths covered in cake. Jade looked shocked, but not entirely mad.

Josh looked geniunely afraid. "Mommy, did I tell you how much I love you today?" he asked.

"Kiss up." Steven hissed.

"Whatever, I'm not gonna get in trouble."

"You're so fake."

"You're so annoying."

"Dummy."

"Idiot"

"Both of you, shut up." Scarlet whisper yelled at them.

Jade and Jason looked at each other and laughed, then Jade got down on the kid's level and whispered something to them. I couldn't hear, but apparently Jason could, because he started laughing. "Johnny, if I were you, I'd run." he said.

The kids started approaching me with cake covered hands and I blanched. "Jade? Really?" I asked.

"This is for calling me merida, Merida." she said. "Go get him kids." and they did as she said, and I took off running.


	43. Elevator troubles

**The triplets are locked in an elevator together for 24 hours and things get messy.**

Third person POV

Scarlet hopped in the elevator, smiling and blushing at her phone as she read a text from Daniel, when it was snatched out of her hand.

She snapped her head up and saw Josh and Steven looking at it interestedly. "Ooooh girl. Someoneeee is getting some tonight." Josh said, laughing.

Scarlet went bright red and tried to snatch her phone back, but then Steven took it and read it. "Wow scarlet, just- wow." he said, laughing. She took it back, annoyed.

"You guys can't just read my texts!" she said, annoyed.

"Well clearly we can. We just did." Steven said.

"Look, her face matches her hair." Josh teased.

"I hate you both." she grumbled, shaking her head. "You know, normally brothers get all disgusted and over protective."

"Scarlet, we used to get disgusted and over protective. Then a few years passed by and we got over it. It's your fault."

"I- woah." the elevator crashed to a stop, shaking the three around a little bit. "That was almost as abrupt as Josh's braking." she muttered, calling Daniel.

"Hey!" Josh protested. Steven laughed.

"She's right." he agreed.

"Hey babe. We're kind of stuck in the elevator." Scarlet said on the phone.

"Yeah Friday just told us. Uncle Tanner is trying to figure out what happened now." he said.

"Okay thanks." she said.

"Yeah. Bye."

"Bye." she said, hanging up.

"Awww no I love you? Is something the matter?" Josh teased.

Scarlet hit his chest. "Stop making fun of me or I'll start talking about you and Becca."

"What do you even have to say about us?"

"Everything. She tells me everything." Scarlet said. "Sofia too."

"Oh god." The two brothers groaned.

"Hey, so some people at school were saying that we look exactly the same besides the eyes and that you don't look like us so therefore you're not actually our triplet and you're actually a year older or younger than us and our whole lives have been lies." Josh said.

Scarlet blinked. "Well that was dramatic. And no, you two are not identical. Josh, your ears are pointier than Steven's and you're a little taller, like half a centimeter. Steven, you're more blond, you're like grandpa Steve blond, and josh is dad blond. Also, your noses are a little different. And Steven has longer eyelashes. And josh grows facial hair faster. Oh and-"

"Yeah. We got it." Steven said.

"Someone was eager to prove she's the same age as us."

"I am! I can remember josh trying to suffocate me in the womb!" she said.

"And you called me dramatic." Josh muttered.

(LATER)

It had been three hours and still nothing, but it was getting ridiculously hot in the elevator. Josh had long since gotten rid of his shirt, lying down on the ground and sprawling out.

"Dude. You're taking up too much space." Steven said, getting more irritated by the second.

"I'm dying of heat. You can just make yourself disappear." Josh said.

"It doesn't work that way." Steven snapped.

"Jeez, Stevie, chill." Scarlet said, sounding lethargic. "God it's so hot."

"Ugh I know." Steven said, sighing frustratedly and just yanking off his shirt.

"Are you two going to get weird and uncomfortable if I take my shirt off?" Scarlet asked, not even really caring.

"I could not care any less." Josh said.

"Same." Steven agreed. She sighed in relief, peeling off her shirt that had been sticking to her and tossing it in the pile.

"Josh, close your legs." Scarlet said, nudging his foot.

"Why?" he asked sarcastically. "Is it unladylike?"

"I will just lie down on top of you and crush your leg."

"Please, you weigh like two pounds." he replied.

"Just you watch." she said, sitting on top of his leg and leaning back against the wall.

He craned his head up a little to look at her. "Oh, you already sat down? I couldn't tell." he said.

She pinched his shin. "Ow!" he complained.

"Would you two cut it out? You're wasting oxygen." Steve said quietly, going invisible.

The three sat in silence for a few minutes and josh had begun to fall asleep before scarlet whacked his leg. "Josh!" she said excitedly.

"Yes. That's my name, and I happen to like it as well, but let's not get too excited here." He said.

"Shut up. I just had an amazing idea. There's a sprinkler up there. Make some cold water come out of there. I would rather be wet than hot." she said.

He flicked his wrist up lazily and freezing cold water starting raining down on them.

The three sighed happily in unison. Scarlet grabbed her hair and put it in a giant messy bun on top of her head and Steven laughed.

"What are you laughing about?" she asked defensively.

"Your hair." He replied. "It's as big as your head." he said, laughing hysterically.

Josh and scarlet looked at each other. "Okayyyy buddy, I think you're getting delirious."

"My phone is dead, call someone." Scarlet said.

"Mine's dead too." Josh said. He grabbed Stevens phone out of his pocket. "His too."

"UGH." she exclaimed, frustrated. "Friday?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Oh thank god. How are they on fixing the elevator?" Josh asked.

"Not close. If your mother was here she could just use her powers, but unfortunately she's not."

"Hm, guys? You think we could use our powers to get out?" Josh asked.

"Wait a minute. Guys, we're stupid." Scarlet said, grabbing Josh's hands and pulling him upright,

"What are you-"

"Just trust me." she said, prying open the elevator doors. "Give me a boost will ya?" she asked. Josh nodded and lifted her up a little further so she could reach the top of the elevator door frame. She grabbed it and swung on top of the elevator with a thump.

"Guys? Come up here!" she yelled,

They nodded and did so, but as josh did it they heard a loud creak. When Steven joined a second later, they cascaded downwards.

"Grab the rope!" Steven said, hanging on. The other two followed suit and now they were all dangling from the elevator cords.

"Okay, now let's head up to that door right there." Josh said, pointing.

They all climbed up for a few seconds until they reached the elevator door to the rest of the tower.

"Now what?"

Scarlet took a deep breath. "I'm gonna try phasing."

"Have you ever done that before? Just wait."

"No no, we can't stay up here for long, we'll get tired or we'll pass out or something. Josh, can you find a large water source to get here right now?" she asked.

"I can get it in through that pipe, if I increase the pressure a bit. It might take a minute to get a lot though. Why?"

"Make a makeshift floor for me."

"Here, I can do that and it's a lot simpler." Steven said.

"How?"

"Forcefields. I can make an invisible floor."

"Um. I don't know how I feel about that. I can't see it."

"Do you trust me?"

"Yeah but-"

"You'll be fine. Concentrate on phasing through. Remember, just imagine all the particles in your body moving as their own entities." he said.

"Okay." she said hesitantly.

"Go ahead. It's a few inches below your feet and it's filling up this entire space. You can't fall off it." Steven said.

"Okay. Okay." she said, taking a deep breath and running straight towards the door, phasing through the other side successfully and crashing into someone on the other side.

"Oh my god." she said excitedly. "Oh my god!"

"Well someone missed me." Daniel said underneath her.

"No dummy, I phased through that door!" she said, not getting up.

"Seriously? For the first time?"

"Yeah!"

"That's so cool!"

"Okay, you two wanna stand up now?" Uncle Elliot asked.

"Right. Sorry." Scarlet replied, standing up. "Move over." she said, grabbing the elevator doors and prying them open and letting her brothers out.

"Are you two walking on air?!" Maria asked.

"It's a force field." Steven said, walking across it with ease. Josh basically ran across it, glad to be on solid ground.

"Thank god! We're free!" he said over dramatically.

Steven gave him a look. "Drama queen."

"I believe you meant, drama king." Josh corrected, grinning.

"Um, sorry, this is totally off topic, but what happened to your shirts?" Marisa asked.

"It was boiling in there." Scarlet said.

"I'm sure Daniel doesn't mind one bit." Steven said, snickering.

Scarlet and Daniel glared at him.


End file.
